Mansfield Town will hunt a win at home when they take on Port Vale on Boxing Day

The Stags host the Valiants at home on Boxing Day with the amber and blues needing a win to lift themselves up the Sky Bet League Two table.

Last time out, the Stags recorded a 1-1 draw against Northampton Town, Graham Coughlan’s first match as manager of Mansfield Town. Striker Andy Cook was on target for the amber and blue.

Port Vale head into the clash having also drawn 1-1 in their last match, at home to Cheltenham Town.

Team news

Wing-back Kellan Gordon will miss the game due to a back injury.

Port Vale have a clean bill of health going into the fixture.

Manager Graham Coughlan was pleased with the ‘work rate, attitude and commitment’ on show from his players this afternoon, but added that he was ‘bitterly disappointed’ to not get all three points after a good performance against Northampton.

“I’m bitterly disappointed because we should have won the game,” he told iFollow Stags. “We had the better chances and the game should have been dead and buried.

“But I was really pleased with our work rate, attitude and commitment. There were lots and lots of positives.

“We got a little bit lucky in the first two minutes when their shot came off the crossbar, but the lads have worked their socks off in the last three days for me so we deserved that little bit of luck.

“But after that, we defended resolutely. We had to head it and put our bodies on the line.

“I loved the defending. The way we stuck our heads in and wore our hearts on our sleeves. I loved that little bit for the parts of the game where we had to defend.

John Askey praised the character of his team’s performance, despite being disappointed his side were only able to come away with a point from yesterday’s Cheltenham Town clash.

“Really disappointed that we haven’t come away with the three points, we played well, back to our best, there’s one or two things we need to improve on but it was more like what we’ve been doing at the start of the season.

“It [Cheltenham’s goal] didn’t only look offside, it was offside, we’ve been able to look at the video and he’s clearly a yard past our last player so disappointed the officials can’t see that.

“We responded really well again, as we do when we go a goal behind, just disappointed we’ve not taken the chances we’ve created.

“It’s pleasing that we showed signs of getting back to where we should be, I’m just pleased that for the supporters that’ve come, they’ve seen a decent game.”

Head-to-head

In the last five outings between the teams, Port Vale are on top winning two games, two matches have ended up in a draw with Mansfield winning a game in the process.