The Stags look to build on their fantastic midweek performance with an away trip to Exeter City on the horizon

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Following their impressive performance against Port Vale, Mansfield Town face another tough test as they travel to St James Park to take on Matt Taylor’s Exeter City side.

The amber and blues secured a positive and confidence-boosting result during midweek as they drew 1-1 with Port Vale at the One Call Stadium.

Nigel Clough’s men ran their socks off from start to finish as they looked to put their awful showing at Northampton Town behind them.

However, it was Port Vale that took the lead in the 33rd minute. Ferrend Rawson gave away a clumsy free-kick on the edge of the box which Tom Conlon capitalised from as he stuck the ball in the top right-hand corner of the goal.

The Stags had a chance to equalise before the half-time interval as they were awarded a penalty. Rhys Oates won the penalty but Oli Hawkins stepped up to take it. The effort was saved by Vale goalkeeper Lucas Covolan as the visitors kept their slim 1-0 lead at the break.

Mansfield continued their onslaught in the second half and were finally able to score an equaliser in the 64th minute.

A free-flowing move from Stephen McLaughlin, Stephen Quinn and Jordan Bowery saw the latter square the ball to George Lapslie. The midfielder’s shot found the bottom right-hand corner of the net as he levelled things up at 1-1.

Only moments later, the amber and blues had a penalty claim waved away as Quinn was brought down in the area. Both sides took a point away from the fixture but Clough’s men will feel they were hard done by after creating so many chances throughout the encounter.

Matt Taylor’s Exeter City side have only lost once in League Two this season with that loss coming back in August as Leyton Orient beat the Grecians 3-0.

Since then, the Devon-based side have drawn seven of their last 11 league games as they sit seventh, three points off the automatic places.

In their last encounter, they took on Crawley Town at The People’s Pension Stadium. John Yems’ side took the lead through Kwesi Appiah but all their work was undone when Ashley Nadasan was sent off just before half-time.

Quick fire goals from Matt Jay and Nigel Atangana saw the Grecians race into a 2-1 lead early in the second half. Sam Nombe scored Exeter’s third late on as the visitors claimed an important victory, their first victory since September 18th where they beat Sutton United 2-0.

The last time the Stags and the Grecians met in league action was back in April. The sides played out a goalless draw at St James Park as Mansfield battled on to survive in the division after a rocky 2020/21 season.

It will be another tough test of character and confidence for Nigel Clough’s men after their good performance on Tuesday. Exeter will not back down from a challenge as they look to search for back-to-back wins and continue the Stags’ winless run in the process.

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