Mansfield Town’s under 18s face bitter rivals Chesterfield on Saturday (11am) in their first Football League Youth Alliance fixture of 2016.
Due to postponements, Dempster’s side are finally set to take to the pitch this weekend in a mouth-watering clash against their regional foes. Last week’s game with Rotherham United was postponed due to a frozen pitch, so Stags’ youngsters will be raring to go.
Dempster could still be without Surafel Behailu and Joel McLean with their respective injuries when they travel to Derbyshire, as his outfit look to make up ground on the top of the division by taking all three points.
In Mansfield’s last league outing back in December, Cameron Healey scored with a first-half header to defeat strugglers Grimsby Town.
Hosts Chesterfield are sitting in the lower half of the table, but have scored nearly 40 goals in the 2015-16 campaign so far which makes them a potent threat for Stags’ defence to deal with.
In the last match between the two sides earlier in the season, Mansfield ran out 3-1 winners in strength-zapping conditions due to the mini heatwave that Kirklington Road endured on the day.
Luke Randle’s own goal handed the Stags an early advantage, before Martell Daswell equalised for the Spireites – Devante Reittie gave Mansfield the lead once again, and Louis Danquah sealed the victory with a well-taken finish.
Coping with different weather conditions will be the challenge for both teams with Chesterfield, like the rest of the country, set for a chilly week.
The venue is as follows:
Staveley Miners Welfare FC,
8 Inkersall Road,
Staveley,
Chesterfield,
Derbyshire
S43 3JL
