Mansfield Town under-19s are back in action this Saturday for a Youth Alliance League fixture against Lincoln City at RH Academy (11am kick-off).
The young Stags will head into the fixture against the Imps in great spirits following last weekend’s outstanding 6-2 win against Rotherham United.
Ahead of this weekend's clash with Lincoln, PDP lead coach Sam Collins spoke to www.mansfieldtown.net and said: “They’re [Lincoln] a good team [and] they’ve got some really good players. They play some really good football so we’re looking forward to it. It should be a really good game.”
In recent weeks Mansfield have been working on improving in the final third during their training sessions and they got their reward scoring six goals in last weekend’s encounter against the Millers.
“[We’ve still been working on] little bits [in the final third],” said Sam.
“We like to look ahead and have a plan to cause the opposition problems when we’ve got the ball and then be well organised and hard to beat when we’ve not got the ball.
“Hopefully the lads take it on board and do it in the game [against Lincoln]”, said Sam.
Attack minded midfielder Jakub Kruszynski scored Stags’ sixth goal last time out in the Youth Alliance League.
“Jakub has had a difficult few weeks, based on the standards he’s set himself throughout his scholarship. On Saturday he was back to something we know he’s capable of.
“There's a lot of positives around the group at the minute and there’s a lot of players that we’re really pleased with because probably one of the biggest things we’re looking for is them being consistent with their performance levels, and that's where we’ve been at in recent weeks.”
Cormac Maher started last weekend’s clash against Rotherham. Speaking on the centre-back, Sam said: “We were really pleased with how he performed last week so there is a strong possibility that he will play again.”
Cody Collins’ loan extension with Gainsborough Trinity was made official on Monday. The defender has extended his move by a further month until December 28.
“It’s brilliant for him to continue playing men's football,” said Sam.
“There have been around 2,000 fans in a couple of the games he has played in recently.
“Over the next month or so our programme with the scholars shuts down for a couple of weeks.
“But in terms of Cody and his development over the Christmas period he could potentially have around 10 to 15 appearances under his belt before this loan is over, which is brilliant for his progression.”
As ever, all supporters are welcome to attend the game for free at the following venue: RH Academy, Woburn Lane, Mansfield, NG19 7RT.
