Preview: Stags v Crawley

21 April 2022

The Stags are back at home this Saturday for a hotly-anticipated Sky Bet League Two clash with Crawley Town at One Call Stadium (3pm kick-off). Here’s all you need to know…

Please read these special notices, which include COVID-19 safety guidelines, before attending the match at One Call Stadium:

Please note that Saturday’s fixture is an all-ticket affair. Supporters must purchase tickets for the home encounter from the club’s ticket office before 5pm tomorrow (Friday) or before midnight online at stagstickets.co.uk
The Stags’ Supporters Association will be selling programmes at their table in Sandy’s Bar & Kitchen from approximately 1.30pm
Proof of a negative test or double vaccination is not required for the game
Please do not attend the match if you’re experiencing symptoms of COVID-19
Sanitiser will be available throughout the stadium
Please respect others by keeping a safe distance especially within toilet areas, queuing and on the concourse
Kiosks will be open, along with Sandy's Bar & Kitchen and the fans' zone bar
Please arrive in plenty of time ahead of kick-off

Kellan Gordon (knee) is unable to feature.

Rhys Oates has a ‘50/50’ chance of playing according to Stags’ boss Nigel Clough. The forward has been sidelined for four matches with a thigh injury.

Midfielder George Lapslie is eligible to return to the matchday squad. The midfielder was sent off against Forest Green Rovers and has been suspended for Mansfield’s previous three matches.

Midfielders George Maris and full-back Stephen McLaughlin both have Covid-19 but can feature in the contest. McLaughlin played 70 minutes away at Carlisle on Easter Monday with Maris featuring off the bench.

Midfielder Ollie Clarke (groin) will continue to be assessed ahead of the clash.

The Stags have lost just five times in 24 Sky Bet League Two outings.

Mansfield sit eighth in the league table, behind seventh placed Tranmere on goal difference with a game in hand.

Crawley are currently 12^th in Sky Bet League Two. The Red Devils have won their previous three league matches.

The last time the two sides faced each other was 27 November 2021.

The Stags won 2-1 at The People’s Pension Stadium. Oli Hawkins and Rhys Oates scored Mansfield’s goals.

The referee for the match is David Rock. Mr. Rock will be assisted by Richard Woodward, Geoffrey Russell and fourth official, Andrew Aylott.

As mentioned previously in the ‘special notices’ section, the fixture will be an all-ticket affair.

Supporters have until 5pm on Friday to purchase tickets from the club’s ticket office or, alternatively, until midnight to buy tickets online at stagstickets.co.uk.

The safety of our fans is always our highest priority. We therefore politely remind all supporters that One Call Stadium is an all-seater ground and standing is not permitted inside the stadium.

Listed below are the club's general match ticket admission prices for home league games in 2021/22.

This includes family tickets, which allow one adult and one child to watch the game from Blocks A and B of the Quarry Lane end for just £25.

The prices for purchasing tickets in advance of league games (before matchday) at One Call Stadium are as follows.

Category	Ian Greaves Lower	Ian Greaves Upper	Quarry Lane End
Adults	£23.00	£24.00	£23.00
Seniors (65+)	£20.00	£21.00	£20.00
Young Adults (18-21)	£17.00	£18.00	£17.00
Juniors (7-17)	£14.00	£15.00	£14.00
Under-7	FREE	FREE	FREE
Family Ticket	Not Available	Not Available	£25.00 (QLE home only)

Tickets cannot be purchased on the day of the game.

Tickets for the match are available to purchase online via www.stagstickets.co.uk, at the ticket office on Quarry Lane, or by calling the ticket office on 01623 482 482.

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 download your ticket via email after selecting 'print at home' and scan the barcode on your mobile ticket using the scanners at the turnstiles.

Tickets will be available to collect from the main ticket office from 10am on Friday, but please collect tickets beforehand if possible.

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

Sandy’s Bar & Kitchen will open from 12pm on matchday and serving from the matchday menu from 12.30pm.

Our Fanzone bar will also be open.

Supporters will also be able to purchase the latest edition of our matchday programme The Stag for just £2.50.

The Stags’ Supporters Association will be selling programmes at their table in Sandy’s Bar & Kitchen from 1.30pm

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

Can't make it to the game? This season's programmes are available to purchase online. To browse this season's programmes, click here.

Parking is unfortunately unavailable at One Call Stadium.

All reserved car parking spaces are within the location of the Ian Greaves Stand car park. 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.

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

Saturday's game will be streamed live for overseas subscribers on iFollow Stags. To purchase your match pass for £10, click 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.

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.

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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Match Previews

Match Reports

Report: Stags 2-0 Crawley

23 April 2022

Mansfield Town returned to winning ways with a commanding 2-0 victory over Crawley Town at One Call Stadium.

The result moves the Stags back into the Sky Bet League Two play-off places and just four points from the automatic promotion spots.

Jamie Murphy’s 26^th minute volley opened the scoring for Mansfield before Lucas Akins doubled the lead with an excellent header on 72 minutes.

Crawley were reduced to ten men on 69 minutes as James Tilley was shown a second yellow card.

Manager Nigel Clough made three changes to the team that faced Carlisle United on Easter Monday.

Top scorer Rhys Oates returned to the XI in the place of Jordan Bowery, who took up a place on the bench. Oli Hawkins missed the fixture and was replaced by defender John-Joe O’Toole. Midfielder George Maris started, whilst Ryan Stirk moved to the bench.

Following an evenly contested opening, Lucas Akins provided the first attempt on goal of the game after nine minutes.

Stags’ ‘keeper Nathan Bishop dispatched the ball quickly up field to Jamie Murphy, who drove forward before spreading the play to Akins on the right wing. The forward took the ball, arrived inside the box and stroked a left footed effort towards the bottom left corner, only to be denied by Glenn Morris’ diving save.

Four minutes later the ball broke inside the box for Matty Longstaff. The midfielder lined the ball up before striking it on the half-volley as Crawley defender Joel Lynch charged the effort down.

Mansfield saw more of the ball in the following period but it was Crawley who next came close to scoring. Winger Isaac Hutchinson cut inside from the left, switched the ball onto his right and curled an effort narrowly wide of the top right corner from outside the box.

The Stags soon regained their control of the play and took the lead on 26 minutes. After a sustained attack, Longstaff played Elliott Hewitt down the right wing who executed a delicate cross into the centre of the box. Mansfield winger Jamie Murphy met the delivery 10 yards out from goal and guided a superbly controlled volley into the top right corner.

The following period yielded few chances until Jake Hessenthaler linked up with James Tilley inside Stags’ box on 39 minutes. The Crawley man controlled the ball and swept a shot narrowly wide of the bottom left corner of Bishop’s goal.

Two minutes later Maris passed to Oates on the left wing. The forward glided in from the left and curled a right footed effort which was surely bound for the top right corner had Morris’ diving save not denied it.

Moments later Murphy slid a pass in behind the defence to Stephen McLaughlin who collected and forced another strong reaction save from Morris at close range.

Despite Stags’ late flurry of chances, the teams went into half-time separated by just a single goal.

Mansfield restarted the second-half positively and were agonisingly denied on 51 minutes when Oates’ pass from the edge of the box found its way to Murphy on the right wing. The forward dribbled towards goal and curled a shot beyond Morris only to be denied by Will Ferry’s goal-saving header on the line.

Three minutes later Oates was played in behind the Crawley defence. The striker strode with the ball, drawing Morris from his line but the ‘keeper made another reaction save to again deny Stags.

Following a quiet spell in the game, Oates almost doubled Mansfield’s lead on 66 minutes. The ball settled nicely for him just outside the box and the striker whipped a dangerous effort wide of the bottom corner.

Crawley were reduced to ten men on 69 minutes when Tilley clattered McLaughlin inside the Mansfield box to receive a second yellow card.

The Irishman recovered quickly from the coming-together to set up Akins and double Mansfield’s lead on 73 minutes. The full-back’s floated cross into the centre of the box was guided with precision by Akins’ head to nestle in the bottom left corner.

Crawley came close to getting a goal back on 81 minutes when Aramide Oteh nodded Mark Marshall’s corner wide from a dangerous position in front of goal.

Stags almost struck back just a minute later when substitute George Lapslie slid Oates through, however, the striker’s effort on the edge of the box was dealt with by Morris.

Mansfield could have added a third on 90 minutes when Longstaff slid McLaughlin in on goal, however the defender slipped as he was set to shoot.

The Stags used their momentum and experience to control the final stages of the contest and secure maximum points.

STAGS XI: Bishop, Hewitt, O‘Toole, Perch, McLaughlin, Longstaff, Quinn (Lapslie 82’), Maris (Wallace 79’), Murphy, Oates (Bowery 84’), Akins

UNUSED SUBS: Stech, Rawson, Stirk, Johnson

CRAWLEY XI: Morris, Davies (Oteh 56’), Francomb (Marshall 73’), Nichols, Tilley, Francillette, Ferry, Tunnicliffe, Lynch, Hessenthaler, Hutchinson

UNUSED SUBS: Seymour, Gallacher, Craig, Kastrati

REFEREE: David Rock

ATTENDANCE: 5,022 (93 away supporters)