Stags set their sights on a home return as they face Bolton Wanderers at the One Call Stadium

Mansfield return to the One Call Stadium for the first time since January 5th as they face Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday.

After a decent display against Walsall at the Banks’s Stadium last Tuesday, the amber and blues were on their travels again as they faced Colchester United at the Colchester Community Stadium.

With the game being moved from a Saturday to a Sunday due to the freezing temperatures during the weekend, the match was able to get underway on Valentine’s Day as a stand-alone fixture in League Two.

The Stags would go into a 1-0 lead after only four minutes. George Maris’ free-kick was headed into the back of the net by Tommy Smith. The Colchester defender nodded the ball past Shamal George and into his own goal.

Colchester were level in the latter stages of the second half. Ryan Sweeney’s headed clearance fell to Miles Welch-Hayes with the defender offloading the ball to Callum Harriott.

The forward controlled the ball and drilled the ball into the bottom left-hand corner as he beat Aidan Stone to level the game.

In the dying embers of the match, Mansfield took the lead once more. James Perch played a through ball into Jamie Reid with the forward repaying the favour by passing back to the defender and the 35-year-old was able to squeeze the ball into the back of the net.

Poor defending from the Stags defence saw Frank Nouble able to find space in the box as he shifted the ball out wide and smashed the ball high and hard beyond Stone to level the game at 2-2 and split the points between the two sides.

Bolton Wanderers were able to taste victory in League Two for the second time in three league matches as they went on to beat Stevenage at the University of Bolton Stadium last weekend.

In the seventh minute of the match, Declan John gave the hosts the lead as the Wanderers looked to control the match. Ian Evatt’s men were able to hold on despite MJ Williams’ sending off in the 78th minute.

Mansfield faced the ex-Premier League side in Greater Manchester at the start of November when Richard Cooper was interim manager following the departure of Graham Coughlan.

Stags’ fans will remember this match as another of Cooper’s games where a resolute amber and blues side failed to hold onto their lead despite an impressive display.

It would take Mansfield until the 56th minute to finally break the deadlock through George Lapslie.

The caretaker boss looked to sure things at the back after adding Aaron O’Driscoll to the frame with four minutes left, but the Nottinghamshire club where punished in the 90th minute after Sarcevic scored the equaliser to take a point for his side.

It is an important game for the Stags who could even move up to 11th place if results were to go their way, but in order for Mansfield to move closer to the play-offs, they need to win the match.

Bolton are only a point behind Nigel Clough’s men and if they were to win they could leapfrog the amber and blues and move into 12th, six points from Newport in seventh.

This fixture will mean a lot for both sides as the Stags look to win their sixth consecutive match and Bolton look to continue their winning run.

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