On The Road: Mansfield Town

Phil Yelland casts his eye over The Bluebirds' previous record at Mansfield Town ahead of this weekend's visit to The One Call Stadium.

Saturday’s visit to The One Call Stadium will be our 30^th trip to the Nottinghamshire venue – and it was certainly a memorable one for us two seasons ago when we recorded our first League Two win following our promotion back to the Football League. The 4-2 victory featured goals from four different players – Brad Barry, Patrick Brough, Josh Kay and Harrison Biggins; Brough added two more as we completed the double back on home soil in March.

We have played The Stags in Division Three North, Division Four, National League and League Two and, of the 29 journeys to date, we have won nine, drawn four and lost 16 times.

Our first trip to Mansfield came in Division Three North in the 1932/33 season when we lost 2-1 with Billy Pick scoring our consolation goal. However, the following season we recorded our first (and equal best) win at the ground when we triumphed 5-0. Joe Roberts netted twice along with other strikes from Jimmy Shankly, Matthew Robinson and Jack Starsmore. It was the latter’s only goal for the Club. For the record, we completed the double that season with a 6-3 home win, in which Roberts netted a hat-trick.

We also won 5-0 at Mansfield on the opening day of the 1954/55 season in Division Three North. That day there was a hat-trick for former Walsall striker Eddie Holding – he scored five times in his opening three games for the Club, but only made five appearances in total for the First Team. The other goals came from Bill Ormond and a Plummer own goal.

Before our return to the EFL in 2020, our last win in Nottinghamshire came in Division Three in September 1967 when we were 2-1 victors, with goals from Jim Mulholland and local winger Ronnie Stephenson. It was Stephenson’s only goal at that level in his only First Team appearance in Division Three.

Last season, we made it two wins from two at the One Call Stadium since that return to the Football League. A 55th penalty from Ollie Banks helped Barrow secure a 1-0 win over Nigel Clough's side.

Our visits to Mansfield in the non-league days were always tricky.

The best results we have managed were at Easter 2009 when we gained a point in a 2-2 draw thanks to an Andrew Bond penalty and a last-minute strike from Nick Rogan. Two seasons later, a long-range strike form Danny Forrest earned us a 1-1 draw late in the campaign.

Our last two Blue Square Premier trips to Town saw us ship 15 goals. In March 2012 we lost 7-0, whilst the following February (as The Stags headed towards the title) we lost 8-1. Town’s manager in those two games was Paul Cox, who subsequently enjoyed a spell in the Bluebirds’ hotseat.

Hopefully, we can head home on Saturday night with an tenth win at Mansfield under our belts.