By Nathan Jackson
June 12 2011

Lincoln's local derby next season will be against Mansfield Town. Field Mill is the closest ground to Sincil Bank and it's a ground where the Imps have had good success in recent visits, unbeaten there in five attempts, three of which have ended in victory.

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Having been born in nearby Sutton in Ashfield, I have always had a bit of a soft spot for Mansfield and I have enjoyed my visits to Field Mill, mainly because in six visits as a Lincoln City fan I have yet to see the Imps lose there.

The Imps and the Stags have had a strange relationship over the last ten years. The fixtures tended to go with the away sides and only three meetings in the last ten years have seen the home side take all three points, including both winning their last two away games at the other's ground. City's last visit to Field Mill came right at the beginning of the 2007/8 season and it was on the back of conceding eight goals in the opening two games. Less than two minutes in was enough for the Imps to take the lead through Louis Dodds, and it would end 3-1 to the Imps, the final goal coming from Mark Stallard, who would join Mansfield a year later.

Whilst the Imps enjoyed a better 2008 part of that season, Mansfield struggled to be consistent and it was a strange season all around, including at one point potentially being bought by John Batchelor and having their name changed to Harchester United, although that didn't happen in the end. They would very rarely follow a win with anything other than a defeat. It looked like they were going to go into a final day showdown with Dagenham, but results during the week before meant that Mansfield were already down when they headed to Essex. They would have gone down anyway as they lost that match 2-0.

Mansfield's three seasons in the Blue Square Premier have resulted in three midtable finishes. All three seasons started well before they eventually fell away, at one or two points even looking like potentially falling into a relegation battle.

Last season was another strange season in the history of Mansfield Town. They were one of the entertaining teams of the division, with a whopping thirteen of their games having five or more goals scored. Unpredictability meant that they never looked like realistic challengers for promotion and the two results that sum that up perfectly are around the New Year period. On December 28th they won 5-1 at Cambridge before losing 7-2 at Grimsby on New Year's Day. They also ended the season with just two wins in their last ten games.

Whilst things weren't spectacular on the pitch, things off the pitch at times looked like getting out of control as Haslam suddenly decided to lock Mansfield out of Field Mill. Eventually they were allowed back in but not being allowed in, combined with the weather in December, meant that they had ten games in April, seven of which were at home, and at one point had 5 games in 10 days.

John Radford has now taken over and Mansfield are heavily expected to challenge next season and they have raided the lower leagues for talent, taking highly rated Eastwood pair Lee Stevenson and Lindon Meikle to the Stags.

Getting to know the Blue Square Premier : Mansfield Town

Discussion started by theimps.ka (IP Logged), 12/06/2011 22:10

theimps.ka
12/06/2011 22:10

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