Rotherham United vs Mansfield Town on 26 Nov 22 - Match Centre

Mansfield Town under-19s are back in action this Saturday for a Youth Alliance League fixture against Rotherham United at The Graham Solley Sports Development Centre (11am kick-off).

Goals from versatile attacker Ronnie Kokkinos and forward McKeal Abdullah ensured that the young Stags won 2-0 in their last fixture against Doncaster Rovers at One Call Stadium.

Ahead of this weekend's fixture with Rotherham, PDP lead coach Sam Collins spoke to www.mansfieldtown.net, and said: “It’ll be a tough game.

“They have a lot of physical players and they are quite direct in the way they play. We’ve got to stand up to that, be aggressive and dominate our one v one battles. Once we’ve done that it’s important that we try and play the way we play.

“Hopefully we can put in a really good performance again.”

On Tuesday night, six under-19 scholars featured in a Stags' XI at Meadow Lane against Notts County in the Notts Senior Cup quarter-final.

“In our environment they’re excelling and doing quite well and then the next step is to go and do that when you’re playing with senior players.

“As often as we can create those situations and get them involved in these environments it’s really good for their development.”

Right-back Taylor Anderson and central midfielder Alfie King recently returned from injury. Speaking on the pair, Sam said: “The closer Taylor gets to full fitness, the better his performance gets. Hopefully that can continue.

“It was really good to have Alfie King back with us last week. He’s trained all week again this week so he’ll be involved in the game tomorrow.”

On 28 October, defender Cody Collins joined Gainsborough Trinity FC on a month-long loan. When asked about his time at Gainsborough so far, Sam said: “It’s been great [for Cody].

“He’s played all the games and they've been on a good run. The crowds he’s been playing in front of has been really good for him.

"Last week they played FC United and I think there were 2,000 [supporters] there at that game.

“He’s really enjoying it and the feedback we’ve had off Gainsborough has been really positive."

As ever, all supporters are welcome to attend the game for FREE at the following venue: The Graham Solley Sports Development Centre, Sheffield & Hallam University, Bawtry Road, Sheffield, S9 1UA

Mansfield produced an emphatic performance as they beat Rotherham United 6-2 at The Graham Solley Sports Development Centre in the Youth Alliance League on Saturday.

Stags’ midfielder Alfie King, who returned from injury last weekend against Doncaster Rovers, scored a brace in the fixture against the Millers.

Right-back Taylor Anderson, attack-minded midfielder Jakub Kruszynski and a trialist also found themselves on the scoresheet.

Stags raced out the blocks and came close to breaking the deadlock after only two minutes when attacker Ronnie Kokkinos fired at Nat Ford’s goal from the edge of the box, but his effort flew just wide of Rotherham's goal.

King and Anderson, who both recently returned from a long spell on the sidelines, linked up to open the scoring after 12 minutes.

Anderson fired a fierce ball across the area and King was there to tap the ball into the back of the net and give his side the advantage.

Following the first goal of the game, the hosts looked the stronger team as they created a number of opportunities and eventually they got their reward on 26 minutes as striker Adam Clark rolled the ball into the bottom corner and restored parity for Rotherham.

The nerves were calmed 10 minutes later as the Stags regained the advantage following an error from Millers’ ‘keeper Nat Ford. After the ball was swung into the box from the right-hand side, Ford spilled it into the back of his net.

And only three minutes later, following a foul in the area, Anderson confidently dispatched his spot kick into the bottom right-hand corner to extend Stags' lead.

A strong first-half display saw Mansfield enter the break with a 3-1 lead.

Five minutes into the second-half, the Millers took their chance to reduce the deficit as attacker Kanye Nesbit found the back of Theo Avery’s net.

Mansfield clawed back their two goal cushion just three minutes later.

Following a cross into the box, a trialist was able to convert his chance at the back post to put Mansfield 4-2 up.

On 76 minutes, the Stags made their first substitution of the game as the defensive-minded Lewis Warnaby replaced the trialist.

King found the back of Ford’s net for the second time with 11 minutes remaining.

After picking up the ball on the edge of the area, he placed the ball into the bottom left-hand corner - a goal which capped off a terrific performance from the midfielder, as he was replaced by central-midfielder Bailey Hamilton a few minutes later.

The Stags scored their sixth goal of the game at the death as Jakub Kruszynski hammered the ball into the top left-hand corner to complete Mansfield’s mission of picking up three points on the road.

ROTHERHAM : Ford, Seisay, Day, Mare (Ayres 49), Bond, Warne, Champion, Holvey, Nesbit, Clark, Hatton

UNUSED SUBS: Hamilton, Grove, Harris, Sterling

STAGS: Avery, Anderson, Whyle, Maher, Wauchope, Carter, Flanagan, Kruszynski, King (Hamilton 81), Kokkinos, Trialist (Warnaby 76)

UNUSED SUBS: Colton-Balogun, Taylor, Oldershaw

Mansfield Town

Youth preview: Rotherham v Stags

Youth report: Rotherham 2-6 Stags