Mansfield Town travel to Scunthorpe United in search of another unbeaten Boxing Day

The Stags have gone three Boxing Day’s unbeaten and the last time they tasted defeat on the 26th December was in 2016 as they were beaten 5-2 by Carlisle in the first game of the festive period that year.

It hasn’t been the best year for the Stags having finished in a lowly 21st position in League Two in the 2019/20 season having sacked John Dempster in December 2019 and hiring Graham Coughlan later than month.

Fast forward a few months and the world is hit by Covid-19 football stops for the Stags and for the whole world as everyone enters lockdowns and what not to try and stop the spread of the virus.

The League Two season started in September which could have kick-started a new beginning for the amber and blues as Coughlan bought in new players, released old faces and tried to build on the foundations he created over the couple of months he had in the 2019/20 season.

Performances weren’t picking up and after a poor 4-2 defeat to Barrow, Coughlan was sacked with immediate effect as the Stags offloaded their third manager in the space of 17 months.

Nigel Clough has been bought in with close revision and is the right manager for the job. EFL experience attracted the Radfords into securing the ex-Burton Albion manager’s services.

In 11 games, Clough has managed to win five, draw four and only lose two as he looks to take the Stags into the right direction and set them up for an important 2021.

Before 2020 ends the Stags have two fixtures against Scunthorpe United and Salford City. The Irons only sit two places ahead of Mansfield in League Two and the amber and blues could jump ahead of them with a win.

Last weekend, Southend travelled to the One Call Stadium to face Mansfield in what set-up to be a tight encounter at NG18.

It wasn’t the best start from the Nottinghamshire club as they went one-goal down in the 27th minute to the lowest-ranked team in the EFL.

James Olayinka scored for the Shrimpers with a fantastic curling effort that beat Marek Stech and ended up in the top corner of the Stags goal.

The first-half performance was one to forget for Mansfield Town as they came out for the second half all guns blazing and in search of a much-needed equaliser.

That goal eventually came in the 79th minute, Jordan Bowery received the ball and drove into the area as his low and powerful effort beat Mark Oxley in the Southend goal as the Stags took a frustrating point from the fixture in what was another sub-par performance.

Over in Cleethorpes last weekend fans at home witnessed a very quiet local derby between Grimsby Town and Scunthorpe.

Nine shots, three on target saw a very underwhelming derby in which the Mariners came out on top through Mattie Pollock’s 21st-minute goal which earned them all three points.

Mansfield Town have beaten Scunthorpe in their last three encounters and the last time the Irons earned a victory over the Stags was back in 2014 securing a 2-0 victory that January afternoon.

In the last fixture between the two sides this season, Mansfield beat Scunthorpe 2-1 at the Sands Venue Stadium in the Papa John’s Trophy.

The fixture was Nigel Clough’s first game in charge of the Stags lineup who were previously taken into battle by caretaker manager Richard Cooper.

Ryan Sweeney and Jamie Reid scored in the first half of the encounter to give Mansfield a two-goal lead going into the break.

Olufela Olomola got one-goal back for the Irons in the 78th-minute hoping they could take something away from the game, but the amber and blues held onto their lead and ran out as 2-1 victors.

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