Phil Yelland takes a look at the history books to find out how Mansfield Town have fared on previous visits to Barrow ahead of Saturday's League Two encounter.
The Stags visit The Dunes Hotel Stadium on Saturday looking to avenge their defeat here last March. On that occasion, two goals from Patrick Brough gave us a vital 2-0 victory and was a springboard to four straight wins, which went a long way to securing our place in League Two.
Prior to that, their last visit in April 2013 saw them going for the Blue Square Premier title under future Barrow boss Paul Cox. We were fighting against relegation and passed up a glorious chance to take the lead when Richie Baker missed a penalty on the half hour. Town went down to the other end and scored the first of their four goals in their 4-0 win. They duly won promotion at the end of that season as champions as we were relegated. The Stags also won 4-0 here in the FA Cup First Round in November 1936. Six weeks later, their visit in Division Three North saw a 2-2 draw.
The teams’ first ever meeting here also came in the FA Cup Second Round in December 1928, when we were in Division Three North and they were in the South Division. They won 2-1 with our consolation goal from the wonderfully named Fred Ferrari.
The first league meeting here took place after The Stags had been switched to Division Three North in the summer of 1932. That game took place in September and we won 1-0 with a Matthew Robinson goal. The following season we recorded our biggest win over The Stags here – a 6-3 triumph in a season when we rattled in 116 goals in Division Three North, 78 of them on home soil. The scorers that day were Joe Roberts with a hat-trick, Robinson, Frank Peed and Jim Shankly.
Prior to last season, the last league meeting in Barrow had been in Division Three during the 1969/70 season which saw us relegated. The Stags won here by the only goal of the game in September – that was game two of a 17-game run without a win which went a long way to condemning us to the drop.
This will be the 31st meeting between the sides here in all competitions. In the 30 to date, we have won 15, drawn seven and lost eight. Here’s hoping for win number 16 and our first double of the season on Saturday.