Following our return to winning ways and the top of the table (albeit only temporarily) last weekend it should feel like the good times are returning and we should be looking forward to Christmas for more than just the mince pies and mulled wine, so why are there still some gloomy clouds seemingly lingering? I guess we have to accept that performances still don’t appear to be at the same levels as they were at the start of the season, with our creativity still not returning to the levels we saw just a few months ago, and with that fact now not being helped with a long terms injury to arguably our most gifted playmaker, those clouds show no sign of lifting just yet. However, last weekend’s win was one of those gritty, determined type wins that have also been eluding us recently, so perhaps there are some crumbs of comfort to be gained and that win and it sets us up nicely for this weekend’s visit of Nigel Clough’s Mansfield Town to the CCS and a chance to bag a 3rd win on the bounce at home. Who Are You? The Stags were formed in 1897 as Mansfield Wesleyans and entered the Mansfield & District Amateur League in 1902, before changing their name to Mansfield Wesley and joining the Notts & District League in 1906, finally becoming Mansfield Town in 1910. They were admitted into the Football League in 1931 and reached the Second Division for the first time after winning the Fourth Division title in 1974–75 and the Third Division title in 1976–77, only to then suffer two relegations in three seasons. Perennial lower division dwellers, their best ever league placing was 21st place in the 2nd Division during that 1977-78 season. Managed by Nigel Clough since 2020, the experienced gaffer has a 42.6% win rate with the Stags from his 277 games in charge with him guiding the club to promotion to League One in the 2023-24 season. Their squad has a few Welshmen in it, with the biggest name being ex-Leeds player Tyler Roberts who is on loan from Birmingham City, with the loanee bagging 3 goals in his 9 appearances so far, however his goal scoring is eclipsed by fellow countryman and ex-Cardiff Met & Newport forward Will Evans, who is the Stags top scorer so far with 5 from 16. Regular custodian of the gloves is Liam Robers a former Walsall & Millwall ‘keeper. Another Welshman, ex-JB & Newport midfielder Aaron Lewis is a regular alongside a Welshman of a different kind, Guyana International Nathan Moriah-Welsh (who also had a spell at Newport oddly enough, on loan from Bournemouth back in 2022-23). The last Welshman in the squad is defender Elliot Hewitt, who hasn’t played for Newport at any point but another player with Welsh links and a familiar name is Abdul-Yussuf Adedeji Adeniyi Oshilaja (a.k.a. Deji Oshilaja) who of course was with us for a few years but never actually made a 1st team appearance. First And Last Our first ever game v the Stags was back in October 1931 in a Division 3 (South) match at Ninian Park. Played out in front of just 7,688 hardy souls, the game finished as a comfortable 2-0 victory for the City, with the goals coming from George Emmerson & Walter Robbins. The Bluebirds had been relegated from the 2nd Division the season prior but struggled to make a decent impression in their return to the 3rd tier, eventually finishing in 9th spot. Goal scorer Robbins had previously worked for a local brewery and was serving a motor engineering apprenticeship when he rose to the attention of the club having scored 70 goals during a single season for Ely United in the Cardiff and District League at the age of 16. He signed for City, making his debut during the 1928–29 season against Portsmouth, and going on to play 86 games for the club, scoring 38 times before moving on to West Brom. He was also the scorer of 5 goals in our club record win 9-2 over Thames. Our most recent league game against this weekend’s opponents was a home game back in 2003 which finished as a 1-0 win in front of just over 13,000 fans at Ninian Park, with the only goal of the game being scored by Rob Earnshaw. This match report from a Mansfield fan brings back some fond memories…. https://www.stagsnet.net/match/reports/viewreport.php?matchid=47 Form Going into this weekend Mansfield come into this having suffered back to back defeats in the league (losing 1-3 at home to Huddersfield last time out) and seeing themselves drop to 13th spot, but overall their recent form hasn’t been too bad and they have earned just 1 point less than ourselves over the last 6, picking up notable wins away at Luton & Plymouth in that time. Overall they have the joint 7th best attack in the division with 23 goals from their 16 games, just 2 fewer than us and defensively they have the joint 12th best record. Away from home their form is very much mid-table ranked (12th) with their goals for matching our own on our travels (9) and defence wise again, very much mid-table away from home comforts (joint 11th). On The Pitch Our thin squad is back to being stretched again following the loss of both Colwill brothers last weekend. Rubin is out for around 10 – 12 weeks apparently (major blow) whilst Joel also remains a doubt for this one having suffered a gashed knee. There is slightly better news in that Dylan Lawlor has returned to training after a groin injury, and depending on a late assessment may be back in contention. The question on everyone’s lips of course is who will take that 10 role in Rubin’s absence? Personally I can see him trying Kellyman in there to start with. Predicted Starting 11 Trott Bagan Chambers Fish Kpakio Robertson Wintle Willock Kellyman Davies Salech The Odds The bookies clearly don’t fancy our visitors chances do they? After getting it wrong in our game last week, we’ll just have to hope they have it right this week!! C’mon The City!!!!
