Will Mansfield Town’s attackers show up against Leyton Orient?

The Stags knew that they missed plenty of chances last weekend in their 0-0 draw against Tranmere and they’ll look to put it right at Brisbane Road against Leyton Orient.

Mansfield Town managed to only get one point out of their opening day fixture against Tranmere Rovers at the One Call Stadium. A 0-0 draw to a team that was relegated from the league above last season may seem a decent result but the Stags were on top of Tranmere for most parts of the game.

Stats may be misleading but, when you managed 19 shots compared to your opponents five it looks like the strikers were up to grab a goal or two.

The best chance for the amber and blues was arguably the chance that Jordan Bowery had. The new signing from MK Dons looked to go around Tranmere goalkeeper Scott Davies but he read it all along and claimed the ball before the strikers was able to get past him.

Credit: Mansfield Town FC

Even though Mansfield had 19 shots in the whole game, they only managed to put three on target and Tranmere only managed one on target which shows in that aspect it was even.

Mansfield’s opponent this weekend, Leyton Orient, managed a 1-0 win over Oldham Athletic as Danny Johnson secured the win for Orient.

Similar to Mansfield, Orient had double figures in shots but only were able to get three of those on target, one resulted in the goal that gave Orient the win.

Both teams managed to score just under 50 goals last season after 36 games which averaged about 1.4 goals per game which is more or less a benchmark average in League Two last season.

Last year’s top goalscorer for Mansfield Town was Nicky Maynard and the striker signed a new contract with the Stags to keep him at the club for at least another season. The Stags man scored 14 goals last term in an under-performing team and his goals kept Mansfield up.

On the other hand, Leyton Orient’s top goalscorer in League Two last season was Josh Wright. No Orient player reached double figures as Wright was the closest to that accolade with eight goals. The goals that Orient do score are spread out compared to Mansfield that solely rely on their strikers to do the business.

Nicky Maynard, Jamie Reid, Danny Rose, Jordan Bowery and Andy Cook are all strikers that can cause damage in the opponent’s box when called upon especially Maynard, Reid and Rose from their showings last season.

Lee Angol has another chance to score against his old club as he broke Mansfield hearts last season at the One Call as he goal and assist saw Orient go from 2-0 down to win the game 3-2 in the sixth minute of added time.

Mansfield Town manager Graham Coughlan is expecting a high-quality game between two very attacking-minded teams.

“Leyton Orient will have a different system to what Tranmere had so you’ll possibly see us adapting to that,” he began.

“We’re honest, hard-working, fit and energetic. That won’t change from our point of view – I just want us to show a bit more finesse and a bit more calmness on the ball.

“We should’ve scored on Saturday and we didn’t. But I do believe with that type of performance, you’ll win more games than not.

“I thought they [Leyton Orient] were very good [against Oldham at the weekend]. They are a technical team who will keep the pitch big and stretch the play.”

Team News

Mansfield will be without defender Joe Riley, as the wing-back continues his recovery from an ACL injury.

Stags could be boosted by the addition of winger Stephen McLaughlin after the former Southend United man signed for the club last week.

Striker Danny Rose will continue to be assessed ahead of the fixture.

The O’s could be without striker Ruel Sotiriou for the match.

Head-to-Head

In terms of playing against Leyton Orient, the Stags have lost back-to-back games against the O’s last season. A dramatic 3-2 comeback as previously mentioned and a 2-1 defeat at Brisbane Road near the end of last season before it was cut short due to the Coronavirus.

The Stags will look to gain retribution for the two losses handed to them by Leyton Orient and hopefully the fans watching at home will get to watch some high-quality attacking football.