Preview: Stags v Northampton

12 May 2022

Mansfield Town are at home this Saturday for the final match at One Call Stadium of the Sky Bet League season in the Stags' play-off semi-final first leg versus Northampton Town (7.45pm 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:

The ticket office will be open from 12 noon tomorrow for ticket collections.
The encounter is an all-ticket affair. Supporters can currently purchase tickets from the club’s ticket office and over the phone on 01623 482 482 (opt 1) until 8pm on Friday
The Stags Supporters' Association will be selling programmes at their table in Sandy’s Bar & Kitchen from approximately 6.30pm
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

Full-back Kellan Gordon is the only Stags’ player expected to be unavailable for selection ahead of our hotly-awaited first leg in the Sky Bet League Two play-off semi-finals.

The Stags have won 13 from the club's previous 15 league matches at One Call Stadium.

A point against champions Forest Green Rovers last Saturday confirmed the Stags’ first top seven finish since 2019.

Despite beating Barrow 3-1 on the final day of the regular season, Northampton finished fourth in Sky Bet League Two after Bristol Rovers’ 7-0 thrashing of Scunthorpe saw them leapfrog the Cobblers in the table.

The last time the two sides faced each other was Saturday 02 April.

The Stags won 1-0 at One Call Stadium courtesy of a headed winner by Oli Hawkins.

The referee for the match is Anthony Backhouse. Mr. backhouse will be assisted by Conor Farrell, Mark Stevens and fourth official, Simon Mather.

Please note that the information listed below is for the first leg only. Tickets for the away fixture at Sixfields have SOLD OUT.

The Stags match at home to Northampton is an all-ticket affair and tickets therefore must be purchased in advance of matchday. Ticket prices 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 are on general sale via telephone (01623 482 482, option 1) and at the ticket office.

The ticket office will be open on Thursday 12 May from 10am until 5pm and Friday 13 May from 8am until 8pm.

The ticket office will be open from 12 noon tomorrow for ticket collections.

Allocated seating is in operation at One Call Stadium and therefore supporters must be seated in accordance to the seat purchased on their match ticket.

Sandy’s Bar & Kitchen will open from 12pm on matchday and serving from the main menu until 4pm.

Our Fans’ zone bar will also be open.

The matchday menu will be served from 5pm.

Oasis tribute band ‘Twoasis’ will be performing outside the bar ahead of the game.

There will be a wood-fired pizza truck outside Sandy’s along with other delicious food from which to select.

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

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 10 minutes before kick-off.

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 2-1 Northampton

14 May 2022

Forwards Rhys Oates and Jordan Bowery fired Mansfield Town to a well-earned 2-1 win in this evening’s play-off semi-final first-leg at home to Northampton Town.

The hosts got off to a perfect start when Oates blasted a venomous strike past stand-in Cobblers' stopper Jonny Maxted on 13 minutes.

The Northampton ‘keeper started between the sticks after Cobblers’ number one Liam Roberts was red carded in the visitors’ clash with Barrow on the final day of the regular season.

Having assisted Mansfield’s opener, Jordan Bowery doubled Stags lead on 32 minutes after converting Jamie Murphy’s delightful ball across the face of goal.

Ali Koiki halved the deficit for Northampton ahead of an important second-leg fixture at Sixfields on Wednesday evening.

Manager Nigel Clough named an unchanged team to the one that battled to a 2-2 draw with champions Forest Green Rovers a week ago.

A raucous crowd inside One Call Stadium met the referee’s opening whistle with an almighty roar, signalling the beginning of the contest.

Early on, Stags striker Rhys Oates pressed visitors’ defender Fraser Horsfall with energy and desire. The front man forced a heavy touch from the experienced centre-back before the referee awarded a foul to stifle the hosts inside four minutes.

Two minutes later Mansfield propelled up the left wing by fans’ player of the season Stephen McLaughlin. The Irishman strode into the Cobblers’ box before whipping a low delivery across the face of goal which narrowly beat the boot of a sliding Oates to lift the Mansfield faithful from their seats.

Northampton reminded the hosts of their danger when Louis Appéré let fly from outside the box on 11 minutes. However, Stags’ stopper Nathan Bishop alertly scrambled to his near post before palming the stinging effort around the post.

The following period was evenly contested but Mansfield’s slick attack superbly fired them into the lead on 13 minutes.

After Jordan Bowery retreated from the forward line to receive the ball in midfield, the striker slid it between two Northampton defenders to set Oates through on goal. The dangerous striker blasted the ball between the legs of Maxted from a tight angle inside the box before wheeling away in celebration in front of the ecstatic One Call crowd.

Stags pressed further when, on 33 minutes, Matty Longstaff expertly lifted the ball from the depths of midfield to Jamie Murphy, who had scampered into space on the left wing. The Scotsman gathered the ball before beating his defender to fire a low cross into the six-yard box which found its way to Bowery at the far post. With Maxted stuck to his near post, Mansfield’s number 9 coolly slotted it into the back of the net with powered control to the delight of a packed-out Quarry Lane end just yards away.

Stags attacked straight away, and Oates found space to wriggle forward before guiding a driven strike wide of the bottom left corner on 35 minutes.

Some clever interplay between experienced duo James Perch and Stephen Quinn superbly played the full-back into the box five minutes later but his effort from a tight angle looped off target.

Stags kept it tight in defence during the closing stages of the half to shield their healthy 2-0 lead at the interval.

Mansfield restarted the second half brightly as Murphy intercepted a loose ball in midfield to slide Quinn down the left wing. However, the midfielder’s squared pass to Oates was quickly gathered by Maxted as the Stags hunted a third goal.

With the home crowd in good voice, Stags again attacked at pace two minutes later. After Perch’s zipped pass into Oates was excellently knocked beyond his marker to allow the striker to gallop into the Cobblers’ box, Oates’ shot was prevented from nestling into the top left corner by Maxted’s firm parry to his right.

Northampton remained a threat on the counter-attack and Sam Hoskins demonstrated that on 53 minutes when the forward cut inside from left wing to curl a right-footed shot narrowly around the post from outside the box.

The visitors equalised on the hour mark when Cobblers’ midfielder Ali Koiki steered the ball from the edge of the area, along the floor and into the bottom left corner of Mansfield’s goal following a swift counter-attack on 61 minutes.

Northampton enjoyed more possession in the following period but Stags remained resilient defensively.

McLaughlin made a key intervention for the hosts on 79 minutes after Eppiah’s snapshot on the turn from close range was drilled goal wards and crucially flicked over the crossbar by the defender’s boot.

Five minutes later, Cobblers’ defender Jon Guthrie guided Hoskins’ delivery narrowly over Bishop’s crossbar as Northampton’s pressure built.

With One Call Stadium in fine voice, the fan-generated atmosphere encouraged Mansfield to defend bravely in the closing stages to seal an important first-leg victory.

STAGS XI: Bishop, Perch, O’Toole, Hawkins, McLaughlin, Maris, Longstaff (Wallace 60’), Quinn (Stirk 77’), Murphy (Akins 86’), Oates, Bowery

UNUSED SUBS: Stech, Hewitt, Clarke, Lapslie

NORTHAMPTON XI: Maxted, Sowerby, Guthrie, Horsfall, Hoskins, Pinnock, Koiki, McWilliams, Kanu (Eppiah 56’), Mills, Appéré (Rose 66’)

UNUSED SUBS: Woods, Harriman, Pollock, Zimba, Dyche

REFEREE: Anthony Backhouse

ATTENDANCE: 7,469 (1,221 away supporters)