Mansfield Town under-18s host Notts County this Saturday in a Youth Alliance League fixture at RH Academy (11am).
Stags’ scheduled match against Burton Albion last week was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Professional development phase lead coach Steve Chettle has since shifted his focus towards another big fixture this Saturday against the Magpies.
“We’re looking forward to it immensely,” he said.
“Last week was a bit of a disappointment, we were all ready and prepped for the Burton game.
“That didn’t happen due to the water on the pitch.
“Now we look forward to playing Notts County at RH Academy.”
On this weekend’s opponents, he added: “Their form hasn’t been great, they’re not in a great league position but it’s a local derby.
“Everybody wants to win their local derbies and with us being sat at the top of the league we’re there to be shot at.
“We need to make sure we’re prepared to play as well as we can and get a result on Saturday.”
The young Stags have two matches of the regular season remaining before the Youth Alliance Merit League begins – a series of games to accumulate points at the end of the campaign to then decide clubs’ eventual Youth Alliance League position.
“We’ve told them [the players] the more games we win in the regular season, the results and points continue into the Merit League as well.
“If we continue our good form, it gives a better chance of winning the overall merit league as well when it comes to the end of April.”
Goalkeeper Anthony Núñez is currently away on an international training camp with the Dominican Republic. The shot-stopper played against Paraguay last night as his country’s under-23s’ side won 2-1.
“We’re all massively proud and I know that they won last night [Tuesday],” the coach said.
“Anthony is back in the building on Friday and will be back against his old club in Notts County on Saturday as well.
“We’ll all congratulate him on Friday when we see him and then he’s back to work ready for the game on Saturday.”
Supporters can attend Saturday’s match at home to Notts County for FREE at the following address: RH Academy, Woburn Lane, Mansfield, NG19 7RT.
