Mansfield Town’s under 21s will take on local rivals Chesterfield in tomorrow’s Central League Cup fixture (2pm kick-off).
Mike Whitlow's side began their 2016/17 campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 win away at Rotherham United last week thanks to winger Charlie Shaw’s sixth-minute goal.
The Spireites secured a 2-0 opening day success with victory over Grimsby Town thanks to a brace from teenage striker Ricky German.
German, who scored a hat-trick for the Derbyshire side’s youth team just days before the fixture, converted a one-v-one chance after 35 minutes before doubling his tally with a tap-in on the hour mark.
Last week's Stags' team contained a mix of senior professionals, development and under 18s' players and first team boss Adam Murray says the under 21s’ side is a good opportunity to give a diverse range of players the opportunity to play senior football.
“It’s me, Demps (John Dempster, youth team coach), Mike (Whitlow, under 21s’ head coach), Coops (Richard Cooper, first team coach), Karl (Hawley, first team coach), we all sit down and make sure we know what the plan is for that particular encounter and what we want to get out of it because we all want different bits,” Murray said in his weekly news conference.
“But the important thing is that we get [positives] out of that, whether it’s getting some kids experience, getting first team players fitness, looking at something for maybe the following Saturday or a couple of weeks down the road, it’s just important we’re all on the same page.
“Sometimes we’ll have first team players in there that need minutes, so you want minutes and fitness and whatnot. Sometimes we’ll put people in to try things out and sometimes it’s about the kids getting experience, so it’s all different bits and bobs.”
The match will take place at Rainworth Miners Welfare at 2pm on Wednesday 14 September and the admission price is £3, however under 16s are admitted free of charge with a paying adult.
Stags will also face Shrewsbury Town and Nottingham Forest in their other Central League Cup fixtures.
The address for the match is as follows:
Rainworth Miners Welfare
Kirklington Road,
Rainworth
Notts,
NG21 0JY
