Preview: Stags v Tranmere

4 August 2022

The Stags are back at One Call Stadium this Saturday for our first home Sky Bet League Two fixture of the 2022/23 campaign against Tranmere Rovers (3pm kick-off). Here’s all you need to know…

The One Call Stadium car park will be closed for 20 minutes after full-time this Saturday – and for all home games this season - to enable fellow supporters to leave the ground safely on foot.

Oli Hawkins is in contention to return to the Stags’ squad after missing the opening day loss at Salford last weekend through suspension.

Kieran Wallace and Jason Law will be unavailable due to injury.

Boss Nigel Clough expects James Perch to be a doubt as he continues to recover from an injury sustained in pre-season.

Forward Rhys Oates missed training in the early part of this week after rolling his ankle at The Peninsula Stadium but the gaffer said the frontman ‘should be alright for the weekend.’

The referee for this Saturday’s encounter is Sebastian Stockbridge. Mr. Stockbridge will be assisted by Richard Wigglesworth, Stephen Wade and fourth official, Sam Lewis.

Tickets are available to purchase online via mansfieldtownfc.ktckts.com or by calling 01623 482 482 (option 1).

The club strongly advises supporters to purchase tickets in advance of matchday to avoid prospective queueing at the ticket office.

Supporters can purchase match tickets ahead of matchday from the main ticket office from 10am-5pm.

Family tickets – priced at £23 – are now available to purchase online by selecting one adult and one junior in blocks A or B of the Quarry Lane Stand. Once this has been added to the shopping cart, the discount will be automatically applied.

Supporters are advised to please collect their 2022/23 season cards from One Call Stadium before Saturday.

Season ticket collections and purchases are available from the matchday ticket office.

Supporters who selected an e-season ticket or a season ticket added to their Apple wallet will not have a physical season card to collect.

Below are One Call Stadium’s ticket office opening times for the rest of the week:

Thursday:

9am-5pm

5pm-8pm (Season ticket collections only)

Friday:

8am-5pm

5pm-8pm (Season ticket collections only)

Saturday:

10am-3pm

The prices for purchasing Tranmere tickets in advance of matchday are as follows:

	Ian Greaves Upper	Ian Greaves Lower	Quarry Lane
Adult	£23	£22	£20
Senior (65+)	£20	£19	£18
Young Adult - 18-21	£18	£17	£16
Early Junior 13-17	£15	£14	£13
Early Junior 07-12	£11	£10	£9
Family (1 adult 1 child)	N/A	N/A	£23
Hospitality - Purchase	£60	N/A	N/A
Hospitality - Upgrade	£40	N/A	N/A

Matchday prices are as follows:

	Ian Greaves Upper	Ian Greaves Lower	Quarry Lane
Adult	£25	£24	£22
Senior	£22	£21	£20
Young Adult - 18-21	£20	£19	£18
Early Junior 13-17	£16	£15	£14
Early Junior 07-12	£12	£11	£10
Family (1 adult 1 child)	N/A	N/A	£23
Hospitality - Purchase	£60	N/A	N/A
Hospitality - Upgrade	£40	N/A	N/A

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.

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'.

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

Our Fans’ Zone bar will also be open.

Supporters can purchase an audio match pass for just £2.50 to hear live commentary of the contest on iFollow Stags.

Living outside the UK? You can watch the match for £10 via an iFollow Stags video match pass.

You can follow the action live via our Twitter match updates, which can be found 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 will be able to watch the game in full on Sunday afternoon/evening, with commentary by Martin Shaw and Dean Foulkes.

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.

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
TikTok

Match Previews

Match Reports

Report: Stags 1-0 Tranmere

6 August 2022

Riley Harbottle found the net on his home debut as Stags earned a first victory of the season with a deserved 1-0 home win against Tranmere Rovers in front of a bumper crowd at One Call Stadium.

The Nottingham Forest loanee converted a second-half corner from Hiram Boateng to send over 6,000 home fans happy in the blazing sunshine.

Precisely 7,128 supporters packed into One Call Stadium to witness Stags romp to victory on the turf where they amassed so many points last season.

The game wasn’t without its nervy moments, however, and Mansfield had Christy Pym to thank in between the sticks, with an impeccable performance in goal.

Stags made one change to last Saturday’s opening day loss at Salford.

Defender Oli Hawkins, who was suspended for the contest, returned to defence.

Jordan Bowery moved to right-wing back, meaning Lucas Akins was pushed up front to partner Rhys Oates,

Stephen McLaughlin, last season’s Player of the Year, started at left-wing back.

Stags flew out the starting blocks and earned two corners in as many minutes, though Tranmere goalkeeper Ross Doohan went untested.

Nigel Clough’s men kept their foot on the gas and McLaughlin and Stephen Quinn linked up well on the left hand side in the fifth minute. A neat, interchanging move ended with Quinn crossing to the near post for Akins to head narrowly wide under pressure.

In the 12^th minute, new midfielder Hiram Boateng showed excellent footwork to send the Rovers’ defence into a merry dance, but his final low drive from the edge of the box was comfortably claimed by Doohan.

Tranmere registered their first effort of the game with a quarter-of-an-hour played when Paul Lewis sent a 22 yard drive into the North Stand.

Hawkins made a vital header five minutes later to prevent Christy Pym from being called upon, but received a whack on the head for his endeavours, requiring treatment.

At the other end, McLaughlin’s delivery into the box was too deep after the Irishman skipped beyond his man to burst down the left flank.

Stags survived a scare on the half-hour mark.

Jordan Bowery did well to win the ball outside the box but then sent a blind pass back to Pym.

Tranmere marksman Hemmings was on hand to step in and shoot towards goal, only for Pym to make a brilliant stop with his legs.

Stags won a sixth corner on 41 minutes and almost found the breakthrough when O’Toole diverted the ball goalwards, but Kyle Jameson was well-positioned to head clear on the line.

As the first half approached its close, Maris saw his long-distance effort fly over the bar.

Chances were at a premium at the start of the second half before Stags broke the deadlock on the stroke of the hour.

Harbottle claimed his first goal in Stags’ colours when he prodded home from close range following Hiram Boateng’s well-taken corner.

Quinn and Hawkins then entered the referee’s notebook in quick succession as the temperature inside One Call Stadium started to rise.

Bowery won Stags another corner in the 73^rd minute.

The architect and goalscorer combined again as Boateng swung in and Harbottle connected in the air to head straight at Doohan.

The Tranmere shot-stopper was well behind Rhys Oates’ left-footed effort moments later as Stags searched for a second.

On 78, Elliott Hewitt replaced Oli Hawkins in Stags’ first change.

Bowery lashed a shot high and wide soon after and then at the other end, Pym was at full-stretch to deny Ethan Bristow to tip round the post.

With six minutes of normal time remaining, Quinn and Boateng made way for Ollie Clarke and George Lapslie.

Pym was the hero for the Stags when he got down superbly to deny Paul Lewis’ shot from inside the area.

Clarke then twice tried his luck in quick succession; the first comfortably saved by the goalkeeper and the second a sizzling left-footed hit which smacked the outside of the post.

In the first minute of stoppage time, Rhys Oates left the field for Will Swan and George Maris vacated his position in midfield for new signing Anthony Hartigan.

In the dying stages, Lapslie teed up Akins to strike at goal, though Doohan did superbly to touch the ball behind for a corner.

Mansfield managed the game well in the closing moments, ensuring the ball was largely in the Tranmere half to see out a deserved win.

STAGS: Pym, Akins, O’Toole, Hawkins (Hewitt 78’), Harbottle, McLaughlin ©, Boateng (Lapslie 84’), Maris (Hartigan 90+1), Quinn (Clarke 84’), Oates (Swan 90+1), Bowery

UNUSED SUBS: Flinders, Gordon

TRANMERE: Doohan, Dacres-Cogley, Jameson, Byrne, Robinson, Bristow, O’Connor, Lewis, McAlear (Nolan 80’), Nevitt, Hemmings

UNUSED SUBS: Hewelt, Merrie, Hawkes, Hockenhull, Hughes, Taylor

REFEREE: Sebastian Stockbridge

ATTENDANCE: 7,128 (621 Tranmere fans)