Mansfield Town look to continue their form going as they travel to Blundell Park to face Grimsby Town

The Stags have played incredibly ever since Nigel Clough has come in and have really turned it around. Now they face the task of climbing the League Two table.

Mansfield Town face Grimsby Town at Blundell Park and a new chapter in the Mansfield v Grimsby rivalry opens as both sides languish near the bottom of the table.

It comes as a surprise that the Stags still sit in 19th and are only out of the relegation zone by two points. They have only lost one game in their last ten competitive matches and smiles have returned to the players’ faces as they play with more freedom and are able to express themselves a whole lot more.

The Nottinghamshire club have only lost once in their last five games in League Two whereas the Mariners have struggled only being able to get three points from five matches in the league.

The Stags gave fans back home an absolute thriller to watch when they faced Crawley Town last weekend at the One Call Stadium.

A hectic second-half performance, goals galore and simply the sheer desire and determination at the end of the game enabled the Stags to draw 3-3 with the Red Devils.

Ryan Sweeney put the amber and blues ahead after only four minutes as the score remained as 1-0 as the teams went into half-time.

Ten minutes from hell struck as the Stags found themselves going from 1-0 up to 3-1 down in the space of a couple of minutes that saw them completely shocked at what hit them.

Max Watters equalised for Crawley in the 49th minute as Tom Dallison scored five minutes later to give the West Sussex side the lead.

It did not end there as the substitute Watters scored his second of the game in the 59th minute to see the game spiral out of Mansfield’s hands.

Hope was restored in the 72nd minute of the game as George Lapslie cut the deficit down to one as the Stags had roughly 20 minutes to grab the equaliser or even a winner.

Andy Cook’s late equaliser arrived in the 93rd minute, the striker missed a chance that could have got Mansfield level earlier but he redeemed his earlier exploits as the points were split in NG18.

The Stags have been able to have a bit more rest than Grimsby as they have played twice in the space of a week, losing on both occasions.

Firstly, they faced Colchester last weekend at the Colchester Community Stadium. Tommy Smith put the play-off searching side in front after only nine minutes.

The Mariners were able to respond though. Luke Hendrie’s goal in the 23rd minute of the game gave them plenty of time to search for a winner and sustain Colchester’s pressure.

Grimsby collapsed in the 56th minute as Callum Harriott put the U’s back in-front and in charge of the game. The game finished with a 2-1 win for Colchester even though Grimsby had double the amount of shots that the U’s had but they simply weren’t able to take their chances.

During the midweek, Blundell Park’s lights welcomed League Two leaders Newport County as the Mariners clearly faced an uphill battle against the Exiles.

Scott Twine opened the scoring for the league leaders as they looked to continue their charge in the league and finally earn promotion into League One for the first time in their history.

Padraig Amond doubled the lead for the Exiles as the penalty looked to have taken the game beyond Grimsby’s reach.

The hosts were unable to respond and only had four shots through the whole 90 minutes as half of them were on target but it showed the real struggle that the Mariners face.

Last time Grimsby were victorious over Mansfield at Blundell Park you will have to go back to February 18th 2017. On that afternoon, ex-Stags Chris Clements scored the opener and a further brace from Calum Dyson handed a 3-0 victory to the Mariners.

The last five matches between the two sides has seen the Stags victorious on three occasions as Grimsby have won just once and the game ended in a draw once.

The Lincolnshire side will look to return to winning ways against the Stags, but it may be tough for them seeing the form that Mansfield are in. The rivalry between the two clubs continues as we see who comes out victorious in the next chapter of the battles between Mansfield and Grimsby.

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