Repeat of last season would be very appreciated

By Nathan Jackson
January 28 2005

City will face Mansfield Town at the weekend and are looking to repeat the 4-1 scoreline from last season. It is a meeting of 2 rather in form teams, City have only lost 4 times since August and Mansfield have only lost 1 of the last 8 and this is the proverbially must-win game.

Well well well, we finally had a decent performance from the Imps, infact, it was arguably the best performance since last season with the Imps winning 4-2 away at local rivals, Grimsby Town. The performance was inspired and made a change from a month and a half's worth of poor, seemingly uncommited performances and now the Imps can look forward to two home games in a row with the first coming this Saturday.

This week has also been excellent for the Imps with the news of massive profits being made from July 2003 to July 2004 and the announcement that the Imps will feature on Sky Sports in a league match for the first time since the FA Cup replay against Luton in 1999. The week just seems a bit set for an anticlimax now doesn't it.

 

Futcher is now the only player in the entire squad guaranteed to be out given that Chris Cornelly has returned to training after 18 months out injured although it is incredibly unlikely that "Buzz" will feature. Francis Green is also back after a one match suspension but will find it very hard to regain his place from Yeo after the cult-hero striker scored a hatrick in last weeks game. Cairan Toner also looks set to retain his first team place despite of the return from injury of influencial midfielder Peter Gain.

Most likely formation (Right to left)

Marriott

Bloomer        McAuley       McCombe          Morgan         Sandwith

Butcher        Toner

GTF          Yeo          Richardson

 

Mansfield, despite struggling by their standards this season, are still amazingly only a few points off a play off place because of the inconsistancy of most teams in this Division. Before their belated defeat to Preston in the Carling Cup, Mansfield looked like certs for automatic promotion before a run of only 1 league win in 12 league games saw them slip out of the promotion picture all together and closer to the relegation places than the playoffs. However, since the 0-0 draw at home to Rushden, Mansfield have only lost 1 of the following 8 matches and their last 3 games have all produced draws.

Many target Mansfield's problem as a result of the Keith Curle saga which saw the manager sacked after an internal investigation and Carlton Palmer was brought in as a replacement. Mansfield also boast the joint best  defensive record in the division conceeding only 26 goals including 2 in the 2-2 draw earlier this season.

 

Since the turn of the Millenium, results have been mixed between the two clubs. In 2000/1 season, Mansfield won 2-0 at Sincil Bank before City won 3-2 in Alan Buckley's first game in charge. The following season saw Mansfield win 2-1 at Field Mill and 4-1 at Sincil Bank. That season saw the Stags promoted so no games we played between the two sides in 2002/3 but the Imps did win 3-2 in a pre-season friendly. Last season saw the Imps reverse the scorelines of the 2001/2 season with the Imps winning 4-1 at Sincil Bank and 2-1 at Field Mill. This season saw the first draw between the two clubs when Mansfield came from 2-0 down to snatch a draw.