Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough has praised the ‘wonderful’ away following that will be accompanying the Stags in their Emirates FA Cup second round tie away at Doncaster Rovers this Saturday (3pm).
The fixture is the second time this season that Mansfield have faced higher opposition in the FA Cup following an excellent 1-0 win against Sunderland in the previous round.
The Stags will be supported in South Yorkshire by 3,314 Stags’ fans in a sold out away end.
“Our following will be absolutely key [to winning the game]. It’s wonderful the amount of tickets we have sold.
“It gives everybody [a boost]. We’ve been talking about [the following] in training last week that we’d sold over 2,500 [tickets], going on towards 3,000.
“To [now] sell out is brilliant. It’s such a good draw.
“It’s certainly a bit closer for everybody to get to [after two long away journeys at Sutton and Crawley last week].”
Although the Stags will be boosted by the lift of a sold out away end on Saturday, the boss insisted the game will still be a tough test.
“They [Doncaster] are much better at home than they are away from home if you look at their record,” he said.
“We’re playing a team from the league above [and] on their own patch they’re not [doing] too bad.
“We are going for wins [and] not to be defensive. We’re trying to win every game, that’s the aim.”
On the impact the second round fixture will have on the club, the manager said: “I think the second round for lower league clubs is very exciting because of what it can bring.
“To get a draw against a higher club, after the win at Sunderland [is exciting].
“We’ll go [there] and have a go.”
The Stags have recently recorded away victories against Sunderland, Stevenage and Crawley. The manager hopes the upturn in form on the road can influence Saturday’s game.
“What has shown in the three games [against Sunderland, Stevenage and Crawley] is that you’re going to need a break now and again,” he said.
“In all those three wins, they [the opposition] hit the woodwork against us so you need a little break [and] especially when you’re playing better teams. We’ll need that break [of the ball] on Saturday."
The heavily backed Mansfield squad will head to Keepmoat Stadium on Saturday without any fresh injury worries after the victory agaisnt Crawley.
A number of players still remain sidelined for the Doncaster fixture.
“Richard Nartey is back training now. He just needs a game or two [and] we’ll try and get a game organised [for him to feature in].
“Danny Johnson is still in the gym. He is hopefully going to get out on the grass again this week. We will see how that goes.”
