Saturday sees the Imps' first league local derby of the season and one that always sparks my personal interest. Having been born in Sutton-In-Ashfield just outside of Mansfield, it's always a good occasion to play the Stags. City didn't lose to Mansfield under Keith Alexander's leadship and if it wasn't for an undeserved goal in the final minutes of last season's game at Sincil Bank, City would have beaten them in 4 of the 6 meetings between the 2 clubs since Mansfield returned to this division.

Tuesday's defeat at Scunthorpe was desperately disappointing that was made even more irritating by the fact that the Imps came from behind to take the lead before throwing it away again. However, it was City's first defeat of the season and overall, the start to the season has seen the Imps play well with the ball rarely leaving the ground. You always get the feeling that the Imps will score at some point during the game but you also always get the feeling that the opposition will score at some point and that makes every game exciting.

Although not vital, it'd be nice to end the month still unbeaten in the league and if the Imps win, it could give the Imps confidence ahead of a busy September that sees City play 7 times.

Mansfield will be virtually guaranteed a goal whoever is in goal but given the fact Rayner conceded 4 (although most weren't his fault) on Tuesday night, should see Marriott return to action. It'll also be interesting to see if Schofield and Deehan give any of the outfield players a rest after every single player who started against Scunthorpe played a full 120 minutes......we doubt it though.

Who I think will start (Right to left)

Marriott

Beevers   Moses    Morgan    Hughes

Kerr    Frecklington   Amoo     Mayo

Stallard    Forrester

Mansfield are yet to be beaten so far this season but lay just 13th in the table after drawing 3 of their opening 4 games in the league. They started with a creditable draw at dark-horses Shrewsbury Town before getting an impressive 2-1 win at home to MK Dons a few days later. This was followed by 1-1 draws against Stockport and Grimsby before Tuesday's cup win over Huddersfield Town.

It's a far cry from the days that Carlton Palmer was in charged. Mansfield started last season awfully and under Palmer, they seemed to have a 1 way trip to the Conference but then Palmer was sacked, which only he was surprised at. Peter Shirtliff took over and results improved and when they came to Sincil Bank and scored a late equaliser, they suddenly looked a good outside bet for the players but couldn't quite recover from their bad start.

Mansfield have assembled a young squad that is highly capable of pushing for promotion this season. Youngsters Danny Reet, Alex John-Baptiste and former Imps' target Matt Hamshaw, are all capable of playing at a higher level but will that be with Mansfield?

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