Mansfield Town travel to Banks’s Stadium in a mid-table clash against Walsall

Nigel Clough’s men will look to make it six wins out of six as they travel to Banks’s Stadium to face Walsall who are only three points ahead of the Stags.

Four postponements in a row meant that the last competitive fixture the Stags played was on January 23rd when they were on their travels

On that day, Clough’s men were in action was against bottom-side Southend United at Roots Hall in what was an encounter that was important for both sides.

The first chance of the half fell for Southend through Simeon Akinola. Mansfield’s goalkeeper Aidan Stone had to sort his feet out to get down low and make a good stop to keep the deflected effort out of his goal.

Jamie Reid had a very good chance in the first-half to open the scoring for the Stags. The forward got on the end of a George Lapslie knockdown which he smashed at goal only for it to be cleared off the line by a Southend defender.

Reid was finally able to score in this game. In the 64th minute, good work from Jordan Bowery down the left-hand side saw the forward aim his shot at goal. The effort was parried away by Oxley but into the path of Reid who stuck the ball in the back of the net.

Southend were reduced down to ten men in the 84th minute as Timothée Dieng was shown a second yellow card and subsequently was dismissed.

That victory saw Mansfield Town win their fifth consecutive match seeing them do so for the first time in the Football League since 1991.

Walsall, have the same amount of draws as Mansfield (11) and whilst they started 2021 with a 2-0 defeat to Carlisle fortunes have turned around for Darell Clarke’s men.

The Saddlers travelled to face Port Vale at Vale Park with their encounter being another mid-table clash with three points much-needed for both sides.

Clarke’s men were able to take the lead after only six minutes with Elijah Adebayo striking for the away side to give them an early 1-0 lead

Tom Conlon was able to equalise for Vale as they looked to hold their own levelling the scores at 1-1 with the teams remaining level as they went in for the half-time interval.

Ten minutes into the second-half, Adebayo grabbed his second of the game and restored the lead for his side with David Fitzpatrick’s own goal gifting Walsall a 3-1 victory away from home.

Walsall’s win against Port Vale last weekend was their first win in five matches with their last one coming in the reverse fixture against the Valiants at Banks’s Stadium with the Saddlers running out as 4-3 winners that afternoon.

The Stags drew the against the Saddlers last time the two faced each other at the One Call Stadium in late-October.

Nicky Maynard opened the scoring for the Stags after George Lapslie’s strike finding the striker’s path who slotted the ball past Liam Roberts and into the back of the net.

In the second-half, Adebayo equalised with George Nurse’s ball finding the striker in the box with his effort beating Marek Stech who got a hand to the ball but was not able to keep it out.

Emmanuel Osadebe rattled the ball off the crossbar in the dying embers of the match as Mansfield prevailed and were able to hold onto a point against Walsall.

Since the Saddlers came down to League Two, the Stags have not tasted defeat against the West Midlands outfit winning once and drawing once.

Mansfield will be looking to make it six consecutive wins in the league as they chase the Play-Off places, with Cheltenham Town occupying the last Play-Off spot only six points ahead of the amber and blues.

A win for Walsall, however, could see the Saddlers move just outside the top ten as they bare down on a good run of form and some consistency to their game.

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