Preview: Stags vs Port Vale

24 December 2019

The Stags are back in action on Boxing Day when they welcome Port Vale to One Call Stadium (3pm). Here’s all you need to know about the clash…

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Wing-back Kellan Gordon will miss the game due to a back injury.

Port Vale have a clean bill of health going into the fixture.

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Last time out, the Stags recorded a 1-1 draw against Northampton Town, Graham Coughlan’s first match as manager of Mansfield Town. Striker Andy Cook was on target for the amber and blue.

Port Vale head into the clash having also drawn 1-1 in their last match, at home to Cheltenham Town.

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We last faced the Valiants earlier this month, a 2-2 draw in the Leasing.com Trophy that resulted in a penalty shootout win for Port Vale.

The Stags had already travelled to Vale Park before the aforementioned fixture, another clash that ended 2-2 in Sky Bet League Two.

The referee for Thursday’s game will be Martin Coy, assisted by Richard Woodward and Joe Simpson. The fourth official will be Alan Clayton.

Mr. Coy last took charge of a Stags’ fixture in January, a 1-0 win over Crawley at One Call Stadium.

Ticket information for the match is as follows:

A full breakdown of match ticket prices for the 2019-20 season in the Ian Greaves Stand (lower tier) is as follows:

CATEGORY	BEFORE MATCHDAY	ON MATCHDAY
Adult	£22	£24.50
Senior	£18	£20.50
Young adult (18-21)	£16	£18.50
Junior (7-17)	£12	£14.50
6 and under	FREE	FREE

Ticket prices for the Ian Greaves Stand (upper tier) are as follows:

CATEGORY	BEFORE MATCHDAY	ON MATCHDAY
Adult	£23	£25.50
Senior	£19	£21.50
Young adult (18-21)	£16	£18.50
Junior (7-17)	£14	£16.50
6 and under	FREE	FREE

Quarry Lane prices are as follows:

CATEGORY	BEFORE MATCHDAY(with membership card)	BEFORE MATCHDAY(without membership card)	ON MATCHDAY(with or without membership card)
Adult	£11	£22	£24.50
Senior	£9	£18	£20.50
Young adult (18-21)	£8	£16	£18.50
Junior (7-17)	£6	£12	£14.50
6 and under	FREE	FREE	FREE

Tickets for the match are available to purchase online via www.stagstickets.co.uk, at the ticket office on Quarry Lane.

Supporters who have purchased tickets via stagstickets.co.uk and selected the 'print at home' option can now use their mobile ticket received via email to access One Call Stadium. Just scan the barcode on your mobile ticket using the scanners at the turnstiles.

All pre-purchased tickets will now be available to collect from the 'Collections Only' window at our ticket office booth on matchdays, starting with Saturday's game.

You can find the booth next to the club shop on Quarry Lane. No tickets can be purchased from this window on matchday, although tickets can be purchased from other windows at the ticket booth.

Disabled supporters should view our disabled supporters' section for revelant matchday ticket information.

Supporters can purchase tickets on the day of the game. The matchday ticket office will be open for fans to buy tickets from 10am until 3pm. Please note that tickets see an increase of £2.50 on matchday.

Our family ticket offer is also available for Saturday's game, which admits one adult and one child for just £18! Supporters that have purchased a family ticket will be seated in our family block, which is located in Block A of the Quarry Lane End. Fans with a family ticket may also be seated in Block B of the Quarry Lane End if demand dictates so.

Sandy’s Bar & Kitchen will open at 10am, serving matchday food from midday.

The bar will begin to serve food from its main menu after the full-time whistle.

Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are available for both home and away supporters, and the bar is located at the rear of the Ian Greaves Stand.

The bar will remain open until 11pm after the match.

Supporters will also be able to purchase the latest edition of our matchday programme The Stag - which features an exclusive interview with defender Mal Benning - for just £3 prior to Thursday's game.

The Stag can be purchased from the merchandise stand near Sandy’s Bar & Kitchen, our matchday kiosks, or any mobile programme vendor around One Call Stadium.

The Stags Supporters' Association will also be selling their Stags vs Port Vale matchday pin badges for just £4 in and around Sandy's Bar & Kitchen before the game.

Car parking is severely restricted at One Call Stadium and works on a first come, first served basis. All reserved car parking spaces are within the location of the Ian Greaves Stand car park.

Matchday parking costs £5 per car. Please note that the car park shuts 30 minutes prior to kick-off due to safety regulations.

The following sites, owned by Mansfield District Council and with easy access to One Call Stadium are Grove Street, Victoria Street, Garden Road and Church Lane.

Charges are as follows:

Grove St 50p/hr
Victoria St 50p/hr
Garden Rd 50p/hr
Church Lane 80p/hr

All of the above pay and display surface level car parks offer cashless parking via RingGo as an additional way to pay.

Every car park has a unique code so people can either pay over the phone, by text, online or by using a free smartphone app.

Details of how to do this are displayed in each car park. Information about all Mansfield District Council car parks can be found at www.mansfield.gov.uk/carparks.

Where do I go when I get to One Call Stadium?

Hospitality

If you are a hospitality guest, please enter the stadium via the brown double doors to the rear of the Ian Greaves Stand, which is the entrance to our hospitality suites.

The doors are located to the left of the white merchandise stall outside Sandy’s Bar & Kitchen, backing onto the main car park and sign-posted 'The Kevin Bird Suite'.

Media

Members of the media are asked to also head to the entrance to our hospitality suites, where our media steward will provide you with the necessary accreditation.

The required entrance is located to the left of the merchandise stall outside Sandy’s Bar & Kitchen and signposted 'The Kevin Bird Suite'.

Supporters

If you need to collect tickets, please head to the main ticket office on Quarry Lane. For ticket purchases, please visit the matchday ticket office, adjacent to the Quarry Lane Stand, around the corner from the main ticket office.

The Ian Greaves Stand is the main stand at One Call Stadium, which backs onto the main car park.

Away supporters are housed in the North Stand, which can be accessed via Portland Retail Park. Please note: there is no matchday parking at the retail park.

Can't make it to the game? You can watch the match live on iFollow Stags for just £10! Purchase your match pass here.

You can also follow the action live via our Twitter match updates, which can be found here.

The match centre on mansfieldtown.net will also contain Opta-populated updates, and can be accessed here.

A report of the match will be published on the club website following the full-time whistle, and post-match reaction will be available to view on mansfieldtown.net and iFollow Stags.

iFollow Stags subscribers can listen to full-match commentary of the clash - courtesy of Martin Shaw and Dean Foulkes - by logging into iFollow Stags 15 minutes before kick-off.

Supporters who are blind or visually impaired can take advantage of our fantastic free audio descriptive commentary service.

Provided by Alan March Sport, supporters can listen to commentary from trained audio description broadcasters.

To take advantage of this free service, please visit the entrance to the Kevin Bird Suite at One Call Stadium after 1pm on Thursday.

Follow us across our social media accounts to keep fully updated on all areas of a Stags’ matchday. Click the below links to redirect to the corresponding social media account.

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YouTube

To add us on Snapchat, search ‘mtfcofficial.’

Match Previews

Match Reports

Report: Stags 2-2 Port Vale

26 December 2019

Nicky Maynard and CJ Hamilton completed a dramatic late fightback that saw Mansfield Town draw 2-2 with Port Vale at One Call Stadium on Boxing Day.

After an electric first period in Nottinghamshire, both sides upped the ante even further in the second half.

The centre-half pairing of Nathan Smith and Leon Legge had Vale in pole position heading into the dying embers but Mansfield remained upbeat.

And it proved decisive as Maynard initially reduced the arrears with a calm finish before Hamilton slammed home his first league goal of the campaign in the 93^rd minute.

Graham Coughlan named an identical starting line-up to the one that picked up a point against Northampton Town last Saturday.

The only alteration came on the substitutes' bench with Jacob Mellis replacing Will Tomlinson.

And the latter’s delightful delivery almost had Mansfield off to the perfect start. Hanging the ball in from the right side, skipper Ryan Sweeney leaped but was unable to keep the header under control.

Danny Rose then linked up positively with Hamilton before the winger struck his effort wide of the mark.

The home side had begun in sprightly fashion and were on the hunt for the afternoon’s opening goal – epitomised when Andy Cook stole possession from Smith before hurrying forward and winning a dangerous free-kick.

Soon after, alert defending by Matt Preston denied Cristian Montano an assist with his cross searching for a Vale body inside the penalty area.

Just shy of the half-hour mark, though, both sides should have made their mark on the scoresheet.

First, brilliant work by youngster James Clarke set Hamilton to strike but when his effort landed at the feet of Rose, he was unable to connect properly with the bouncing ball.

Down the other end, Montano’s clip found David Amoo unopposed yet his header from close range was powered harmlessly out of play.

Cook then had to reach around his marker to meet Alex MacDonald’s cross yet it resulted in an easy claim for Scott Brown.

Into the second half and Mansfield came so close to finding an opener through Neal Bishop.

The midfielder used his chest to bring the ball under his spell before thumping agonisingly the wrong side of the upright.

And for what would have been a fantastic finish, Vale took full advantage in the 53^rd minute.

Possession was worked out to Amoo in the right channel and he was able to drill the ball towards Smith who remained calm from 10 yards out.

This sparked the amber and blue into overdrive as several chances came and went within the space of a few moments.

Rose miscued another gilt-edged chance before Hamilton’s pullback was blocked inside the penalty area.

The Stags, however, were dealt another blow 13 minutes later.

A corner from the far side was not dealt with by Coughlan’s side and following pinball on the goal line, it was Legge who was adjudged to have bundled the ball far enough.

The Stags’ boss opted for three substitutions in response to the visitors’ second and it was the first, Maynard, that halved the deficit with the clock ticking towards full time.

Montano thought he’d cleared any imminent danger but the No. 11 latched onto the loose ball and fired into the bottom corner with unerring accuracy.

It meant there would be a grandstand finish at One Call Stadium with four minutes additional time.

The Valiants were content in their duties of sitting back and holding on for victory – that was before substitute Jacob Mellis fed Hamilton.

The winger, from the tightest of angles, drilled into the far corner with aplomb and sent the home faithful into raptures.

There would no time to complete the comeback as both sides therefore had to settle for a point each on Boxing Day.

Next up for the Stags is a trip to face Bradford City on Sunday 29 December in Sky Bet League Two.

STAGS XI: Olejnik (GK), Benning, Preston, Bishop (Mellis 74’), MacDonald (Khan 68’), Tomlinson, Sweeney, Cook, Clarke, Hamilton, Rose (Maynard 68’).

UNUSED SUBS: Logan (GK), Pearce, Davies, Knowles.

PORT VALE XI: Brown (GK), Gibbons, Joyce, Legge ©, Worrall, Pope (Archer 86’), Montano, Atkinson, Smith, Amoo, Burgess.

UNUSED SUBS: Maddison (GK), Cullen, Pugh, Browne, Evans, Lloyd.

REFEREE: Martin Coy

ASSISTANTS: Richard Woodward & Joe Simpson

FOURTH OFFICIAL: Alan Clayton

ATTENDANCE: 5,565 (953 away)

Match Reports

Standings