Stags welcome Notts County to One Call Stadium this weekend for the hotly-anticipated Nottinghamshire derby (1pm kick-off). Here's all you need to know ahead of the game...
Stags' boss David Flitcroft provided an injury update ahead of Saturday's derby in a press conference on Thursday morning.
“The Macca [Alex MacDonald] one [injury] is a strange one because it’s bone bruising,” he said. “I genuinely can’t give a timescale because it’s such an unusual injury.
“It’s [about] how the injury settles, as not one bone bruising injury is the same as another. So I just can’t give a timescale on it.
“Mirf [David Mirfin] was always going to have a steady road back. He’s been in training with us for about three weeks.
“He is steadily getting better and improving. It’s not an injury that we’re going to rush. It’s really important that we get everything right with him. He has had a couple of setbacks, and we’ve worked through them with him.
“We got CJ [Hamilton] 45 minutes in [against Bury] and I thought he was outstanding. If he played 90, it could have depleted him, and that’s the advice we got.
“We’re looking forward to him being out there on Saturday because he’ll have that energy.
“It [Krystian Pearce’s groin strain] has settled down slightly, but Pearcey won’t train today [Thursday]. We usually do our shape work today but we’ll put that off until tomorrow.
“He won’t train today but we’ll keep monitoring it and I’ll see how it settles down. We hope so [he will be ready for Saturday]. We’re hoping he can come through it.”
Notts County will be without Lewis Alessandra and Enzio Boldewijn for the match, while Jon Stead and Kane Hemmings are doubts.
Stags go into this weekend's derby 12 games unbeaten in Sky Bet League Two. Our most recent league fixture came in late November away to Lincoln, in which Jacob Mellis scored a dramatic late equaliser with an expertly-struck volley.
Notts' last league fixture came at home to Carlisle, a game that ended 1-1. This weekend's clash between Stags and Notts will be the first league fixture that Neal Ardley will take charge of as Magpies' boss, following his recent appointment.
STAGS' LAST FIVE GAMES: 2W | 1D | 2L
NOTTS' LAST FIVE GAMES: 1W | 2D | 2L
We last faced Notts at Meadow Lane towards the back end of last season, a game that ended 1-1 after a late Mansfield equaliser.
We last welcomed the Magpies to One Call Stadium in September of last year, and emerged as 3-1 victors with Danny Rose scoring twice.
The referee for Saturday's clash will be Jeremy Simpson, assisted by Shaun Hudson and Nigel Lugg. The fourth official will be Peter Wright.
Tickets for the match are available to purchase online via www.stagstickets.co.uk, at the ticket office on Quarry Lane, or by calling the ticket office on 01623 482 482.
Supporters can also purchase tickets on the day of the game. The matchday ticket office will be open for fans to buy tickets from 10am until 1pm.
Our family ticket offer is also available for Saturday's game, which admits one adult and one child for just ÂŁ18! Supporters that have purchased a family ticket will be seated in our family block, which is located in Block A of the Quarry Lane End. Fans with a family ticket may also be seated in Block B of the Quarry Lane End if demand dictates so.
This week in our family room, we will officially open our new sensory room - built for those prone to experiencing a sensory overload - and have our own snow workshop with our snow machine! Read more about this here.
Full ticket information can be found here.
Please note that, on police advice and for ease of congestion, the gate between the North and Ian Greaves Stand will be closed after every home game this season, re-opening approximately 20 minutes after the final whistle.
The Sandy Pate Sports Bar will open at 9am, serving bacon and sausage cobs from the matchday kiosk until 11am.
From 11am, the matchday kiosk will be serving pies, chips, burgers and hot dogs.
The bar will begin to serve food from its main menu following the full-time whistle.
The sports bar will remain open until 11pm after the match.
Supporters will also be able to purchase our award-winning matchday programme, The Stag, which will be available to buy around the ground for just ÂŁ3 before the match.
Fans can buy The Stag from the merchandise stand near the Sandy Pate Sports Bar, or any of our mobile programme vendors around the ground.
Supporters should be aware that because of extended hospitality this Saturday at home to Notts County, the Kevin Bird Suite will be closed to supporters.
Unfortunately, due to high demand, we can no longer offer parking at One Call Stadium to supporters for Saturday's match.
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 the Sandy Pate Sports Bar, 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 the Sandy Pate Sports Bar 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.
Entry to the Quarry Lane End is via the turnstiles situated parallel to the road running alongside One Call Stadium.
The Ian Greaves Stand is the main stand at One Call Stadium, which backs onto the main car park.
Away fans are housed in the North Stand, which is located next to Portland Retail Park. Please note: there is no matchday parking in the retail park.
Can't make it to the game? You can follow the action live via our Twitter updates or via the match centre on mansfieldtown.net, which can be found here.
iFollow Stags subscribers can listen to full-match commentary of the clash, courtesy of commentators Martin Shaw and Dean Foulkes.
A report of the match will be published on the club website after 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.
To take advantage of this free service, please visit the entrance to the Kevin Bird Suite at One Call Stadium after 11am on Saturday.
