Mansfield Town host Northampton Town in Graham Coughlan’s first game in charge

Mansfield Town boss Graham Coughlan will be hoping for a winning start to life as Stags manager when Northampton Town come to town.

The Stags’ new manager Graham Coughlan is set to step in the dugout for the first time against the high-flying Cobblers.

Last time out, the Stags recorded a 1-1 draw away at Crewe Alexandra, with Andy Cook on the scoresheet for Mansfield.

Northampton have been in good form of late, especially at home, where they have won six successive matches. In their last Sky Bet League Two encounter, they beat Forest Green 1-0.

Team news

Defender Hayden White could be in contention for the match after a recent return to training.

Fellow wing-back Kellan Gordon will miss out due to a back injury.

Northampton boss Keith Curle has a full squad of players to choose from for the fixture.

New manager Graham Coughlan says he wants to instil ‘confidence and self-belief’ into the Mansfield Town players.

“The club as a whole has been struggling this season – confidence wise – and being local you can actually get a feel for the club, a feel for the players, the supporters, and you can actually tell where, how and why they’re struggling,” he began.

“We’ve got a tremendous group of players at the club and they’re just not functioning. They may be short in confidence, they may be missing one or two vital ingredients and it’s up to us to put that in. But on paper, this club shouldn’t be where they are in the division and that, for me, we need to get in, we need to ask questions and we need to find out why they are 18th in League Two.”

Cobblers boss Keith Curle previews Saturday’s trip to Mansfield and says he is expecting a tough challenge at the One Call Stadium with the home side under the guidance of new manager Graham Coughlan for the first time.

“It will be a challenge, they will be upbeat with a new manager coming in and I’m expecting them to play at a high tempo which is something we don’t shy away from ourselves,” he said.

“Mansfield are a football club that, certainly over the last couple of seasons, have backed their manager with a very healthy budget and they will be disappointed with where they are in the league.

“They made some good signings in the summer and there is talent in the squad but sometimes having that talent isn’t enough, as this football club has found out in some recent seasons.”

Head-to-head

In the last five outings between the two clubs, this fixture has ended in a draw on three occassions with each side grabbing a win each in the process.