Some Mansfield fans would have you believe they’re in turmoil right now. They sit 8th, 1 point outside the playoffs with 2 games in hand, however, listening into the Amber and Blue Twitter space on Wednesday, you’d have thought they were staring relegation in the face. This weekend, their games get no easier, as they head to in-form Stockport County, whose fans are delighted to see them in the mix having only come up from The National League last season. We spoke to Russell – the host of Amber and Blue for a Mansfield view, and Hannah, our friendly neighbourhood Stockport fan, to get their thoughts on this huge game for both sides.
Welcome both! Let’s crack straight on with the questions;
What would you tell your opposition to expect going into the game?
R: A tough physical game and players playing in makeshift positions.
H: Excellent pies, excellent fans, excellent atmosphere. Honestly couldn’t tell them what to expect from the football after the last few weeks, but desperately hoping for a return to consistent good form after we scraped a win last week.
How do you expect to line up?
R: I expect Clough to retain his five at the back, 3 in Midfield and two upfront – one of which will be sat behind the main striker. We will massively miss Quinn. (Quinn is ruled out for 3 games after a reckless reaction to a challenge vs Northampton on Tuesday.)
H: Not expecting to see Fraser Horsfall after he went off against Colchester injured. He’s only just back after a couple of months out so absolutely gutted for him.
Who would you consider the most significant danger in the team?
R: Davis Keiller Dunn, though he was quiet on Tuesday, I think he’s an exciting player. A good finisher and he’s always wanting the ball. He makes things happen in the team.
H: William Guy Collar is a god amongst League Two men. We’re lucky to have him and hope to keep him despite a lot of apparent interest especially since he’s finally got his own song (despite it being set to a Christmas song, which I have issues with).
How will the result of the game impact your season?
R: With a sold-out away end it’s a massively important game for our promotion push. If we lose Saturday and teams around us win it’s going to be harder and harder to get into the playoffs.
H: No impact whatsoever. Tiny. Insignificant. No one needs to panic. It’s absolutely just another game with a team a couple of places below us in the playoffs who have got two games in hand. Not worried at all. Honest.
Sum up your season so far.
R: Our season has been very Jekyll and Hyde 1 minute you’re playing teams like Carlisle off the park the next minute you’re getting smashed at home by Salford. The Barrow game was the same too.
H: Bad. Brazil. Bedwetting. We’re always slow to start but it felt horrific at the beginning of the season. When it clicked, it was wonderful. Then Barrow, and two goalless draws (all credit to Gillingham, they understood the assignment) and it’s all impending disaster (again).
Pre-season expectations vs reality, how is it looking?
R: So at the start of the season I nailed on for the top 3 with keeping most of the squad together from last season however, I’ll failure to recruit in the positions that we needed in the summer has probably cost us. I think we’re finishing in the same position as last season’s 7th.
H: I think a lot of County fans were perceived to be really cocky at the beginning of the season because the weird betting patterns prompted some odd pundit predictions. It would have been nice but it was never really expected and I would have settled for mid-table. Except it’s the hope that kills you, and now playoffs look possible. I don’t think we’ll scrape the automatic places – we’re not consistent enough and we’ve got some big games coming up. I absolutely hate playoffs – I’m scarred from the early 90s and you don’t recover from that level of trauma easily.
Finally, predict the result.
R: I think we will draw 1-1. We will score first and sit back and invite pressure, and from that Stockport will equalise.
H: I’m going for 1-0 to us. We’ve won the ‘hard’ games recently so we’ve got it in us. I secretly want to predict a 3-0 loss though because my doom and gloom predictions are always completely wrong.
Our bonus question; Where do you think your opposition will finish this season?
R: Stockport will finish 5th I think and play us in the playoff final, Mansfield going on to win 2-1 with Akins scoring the winning goal.
H: Listening to their fans they’ll be lucky to escape relegation. If they can prevent any more injuries (and ridiculous red cards) and take advantage of their games in hand then I think 5th is probably realistic. We’ll obviously be finishing 8th after losing to Hartlepool in the last game of the season, because, County.
