Stags will be looking to secure a place in the next round of the FA Cup with a League One club in their way once more

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Mansfield Town have a very good chance of progressing into the Third Round of the FA Cup and securing a dream tie against a top-flight club.

The Nottinghamshire club are on fine form, winning six of their last seven competitive matches. Beating Sunderland in the First Round of the competition will give the Stags a lot of confidence ahead of their encounter against Doncaster Rovers at the Keepmoat Stadium this weekend.

Last time out for the amber and blues, they resiliently battle at The People’s Pension Stadium to record a 2-1 victory over Crawley Town.

Brilliant build-up play from the Stags allowed Ryan Stirk to play the ball into Oli Hawkins’ path. The forward pounced on the opportunity and lifted the ball over Glenn Morris to give the visitors a 1-0 lead after 24 minutes.

Inside the opening few minutes of the second half, the Red Devils fired in the equaliser. Jake Hessenthaler’s lay-off found James Tilley who smashed his effort past Nathan Bishop and into the back of the net.

Mansfield had the final say in the game as Hawkins turned provider with a fantastic outside of the boot assist for Rhys Oates.

Nigel Clough’s side performed fantastically against Crawley as they bounced back after a relatively poor game against Sutton United last Tuesday.

Doncaster Rovers have been nothing short of abysmal this season. After only winning three league games so far this season, manager Richie Wellens and assistant manager Noel Hunt departed the club on Thursday with the Yorkshire outfit 23rd in League One.

They slumped to their 12th league defeat last weekend as they were beaten 2-0 by Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium.

The Rovers had nothing going forward as goals from Thomas O’Connor and Daniel Jebbison saw the Brewers emerge comfortable victors.

It went from bad to worse for Doncaster as they were dumped out of the Papa John’s Trophy by a heavily rotated Crewe Alexandra side.

Once again, the Rovers were defeated 2-0 and were unable to record a shot on target as goals in either half from Ben Knight and Oliver Finney secured a win for the Alex.

The Stags have only won twice against Doncaster in their last 10 attempts with the sides recording three draws and the Rovers emerging victorious on five occasions.

It will be a tightly contested battle at the Keepmoat Stadium on Saturday as two teams in contrasting forms go head-to-head for the first time since 2017.

Clough has always enjoyed a cup run as a player and manager so it will be no surprise if the 55-year-old brings the fight to the Rovers from minute one in Yorkshire on Saturday afternoon.

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