Tamworth v Mansfield Town Preview
This weekends game is a must win if we are to keep our slim play off hopes alive. A loss on Saturday could see us slip further down the table and be a possible 5 points off 5th place.
This is the second time that we have met Tamworth this season. The first being back in December in a FA Trophy match that we lost 2-0. At the time I wasn’t all that bothered about the loss as I hoped that it would help us have fitter players for league games. Since though our form has gone out of the window and we are on the brink of losing touch with the play offs altogether.
Tamworth have a host of ex Stags playing for them this season. The most notable being Iyseden Christie and Neil MacKenzie. Christie racked up 44 goals in 145 games (including one against us back in December!), in two separate spells with us. Neil MacKenzie played 78 games for us over 3 seasons again in two separate spells. He joined near the end of last season after his release from crisis club Notts County, but failed to make an impact in his 7 games and was one of many to leave in the summer.
Other ex Stags players are Tom Shaw who never really got a chance here, Michael Blackwood who was hit and miss and Gavin Hurren who is remembered for scoring an excellent goal away at Stevenage Borough. Tamworth also have a selection of ex Stags trialists at the club. Defender Michael Briscoe and attacking midfielder Jay Smith have both been at Field Mill in recent times trying to win a deal before moving onto Tamworth.
Since beating us in December Tamworth have put together an impressive run of results. They’re unbeaten in 7 (9 if you include the FA Trophy), collecting 14 points out of a possible 21. The pick of the results has to be beating Oxford United away and Stevenage Borough at home, both 1-0 victorys. Excellent form for a newly promoted team. In contrast, we have picked up 9 points from a possible 24. 3 wins and 5 losses, conceding 14 goals and scoring 12. We are on a terrible run at the moment and have lost 3 on the spin.
Recently we have had no problems scoring goals. Scoring 4 against Chester and 4 against Forest Green Rovers. However it was revealed Tuesday night that Jake Speight has been ruled out for 5 weeks with a knee injury and it looks like he could need surgery. It’s a huge blow for us. Speight had scored 3 in 4 games and gives our team a different option with his blistering pace. It leaves us with Jon Shaw, Kyle Perry and Rob Duffy for the forward line. 3 of the same kind of strikers. Big target men.
There is a lot of interest around this game from both sets of supporters and clubs. Tamworth have averaged just over 1,000 this season. It could be quite a bumper crowed tomorrow, as despite our poor form around 800 Stags fans are expected to make the short journey down to Tamworth. We have been advised by the club to get in the ground early because there is no other extra space to be made available in the ground. From pictures the end that we are to be housed in looks quite small and is split up by several brick walls. If we take the expected amount then I think we will all struggle to fit in. That site says that normally 100seats are made available for away supporters but it looks like this may not be the case for us tomorrow. The prices are £12 for adults and £9 for concessions.
The Tamworth Chairman has been doing his bit to drum up some interest in the game as well. This week he has urged the population of Tamworth to go down to this weekends game and in his words, ’Come and support potentially the best Lambs side ever’. If the Tamworth public turn out in number we could potentially be looking at a 2,000+ crowd which would be the biggest of the season at The Lamb! With that would be a great atmosphere for the game to be played in.
Score prediction. Tamworth 1-2 Mansfield. Got to be optimistic!
Team line up prediction.
Marriott
Silk-Foster-Garner-Nicholas
Challinor-Somner-Nix
Shaw-Duffy-Williams
