Steady the ship and get back on track – Mansfield head to Newport

Credit: Mansfield Town FC

The next chapter of the Newport and Mansfield rivalry opens as the Stags travel down to Rodney Parade.

But Mansfield’s spirits may be low after last weekend’s performance against Exeter City.

Last weekend the Stags were shot in the foot as a subpar performance saw them fall to a 2-1 defeat to Exeter City.

Mansfield were straight out of the blocks as they managed to match the pace of Exeter and in the 20th minute they grabbed the lead through a Rollin Menayese tap in at the back post.

The onslaught from Exeter followed as last season’s Play-Off Finalists got to work. Only 20 minutes after Menayese’s goal, the Grecians were able to force a mistake from the Stags which forced Ferrand Rawson to score an own goal and level the game up at 1-1.

Exeter grabbed a second with 15 minutes to go in the game. Josh Key scoring with a cool finish into the Mansfield goal and ensured the three points would go back to Devon.

A win would have risen Mansfield up to 11th and in a good position only two points behind league leaders Cambridge United. Instead the Stags are only on two points and sit 18th in the league.

Newport County, on the other hand, are absolutely flying in League Two and are third in the league, joint on points with Cambridge and Port Vale, but have a lower goal difference than the two sides.

The University of Bolton saw the demolishing Newport enforced on the home side Bolton as the side that was relegated team from League One have struggled so far.

Last time out between Mansfield and Newport, the Stags were victorious at the One Call Stadium in a very wet and windy affair in Mansfield.

The rivalry between the two clubs dates to 2019 more than anything else. The Play-Off semi-final encounter between Mansfield and Newport saw the two clubs draw both matches.

CJ Hamilton and Padraig Amond scored the two goals in the first-leg of the semi-final at Rodney Parade and the score stayed at 0-0 at the One Call a few days later in the second-leg.

The game had to go to a penalty shootout after 120 gruelling minutes at the One Call Stadium. Tyler Walker’s penalty was saved by Joe Day and the Stags went on to lose 5-3 in the shootout as they were knocked in the semi-final stage of the Play-Offs.

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