League Two Table

		P	GD	Pts
1	Port Vale	16	+8	33
2	Walsall	15	+13	30
3	Doncaster	17	+4	29

4	Notts County	17	+8	28
5	Crewe	15	+6	28
6	MK Dons	16	+8	27
7	Chesterfield	17	+10	25

8	Grimsby	17	-7	25
9	AFC Wimbledon	15	+9	23
10	Bradford	16	+4	23
11	Gillingham	16	+3	23
12	Barrow	17	+1	22
13	Fleetwood Town	14	+5	21
14	Cheltenham	17	-3	21
15	Salford	16	-3	21
16	Newport County	17	-7	21
17	Harrogate Town	17	-7	21
18	Accrington Stanley	16	-4	18
19	Colchester	16	-3	17
20	Tranmere	15	-8	17
21	Bromley	15	-2	16
22	Swindon	17	-8	13

23	Morecambe	17	-12	13
24	Carlisle	17	-15	13

Full League Two Table
Prem|Champ|L1|L2|NL|NLN|NLS
SPL|SC|S1|S2

Question of the Week

Is football a business or a sport?

Futcher: Debut

Mansfield Preview

By: Richard Hubbert
Date: 13/01/2006

AFTER a twelve day break from any first team action, the Mariners return to Blundell Park in the hope of returning to winning ways against Peter Shirtliffâ€™s Mansfield Town.

Home > 2005-2006 Season > Previews > Mansfield (h)

The Opposition

Overview

The Stags had an horrendous start to the 2005/06 campaign, which saw them win just one of their first 12 games. This meant that Carlton Palmer was soon dismissed as boss, with his assistant Peter Shirtliff (left) taking the reigns. Shirtliff got off to great start with a 1-0 win against Southampton in the Carling Cup and has brought some more solidarity to the side. The former Barnsley defender has guided the Stags to nine wins, nine defeats and four draws. Not promotion form but considering the Stags had only won one game all season before he took over it shows a clear improvement. They even came close to a replay when they narrowly lost 1-0 at Newcastle in the F.A Cup last week. In the league meanwhile, they sit in 20th place, five points from the final relegation place.

Their Squad

Veteran keeper Kevin Pressman (left) is the Stags' number one, having signed in the summer at the age of 38. Rhys Day is a highly rated Welsh defender who has now made just over 100 appearances for the club. Accompanying him in defence is the amusingly named Gareth Jelleyman. The left back has plenty of league experience after spending seven years at Peterborough United. Giles Coke is a lively midfielder who was snapped up from Kingstonian last March. He scored the goal that secured Carling Cup victory over Southampton in September. Allan Russell is currently on loan from Macclesfield. The 25 year old has been playing in attack lately, but could be moved onto the right of midfield in the wake of the arrival of Danny Reet this week. Reet has been on loan at Bury and scored against Town on Boxing Day. He has signed from Sheffield Wednesday for a fee of around Â£25,000. Striker Adam Birchall likes scoring the Mariners, having netted his first league goals against Town when he scored a brace playing for Wycombe back in August 2004.

Key Player

Richard Barker. Intelligent forward who knows where the back of the net is. Has got 14 goals so far this season to add to the ten he got last season after signing from Rotherham in November 2004. Previously had successful spells and Macclesfield and Brighton.

Recent Form

Town

Mansfield

L	Carlisle	(h)	1-2
W	Wrexham	(a)	2-1
W	Lincoln	(h)	3-0
W	Bury	(a)	2-1
L	Bristol R	(h)	0-1

Currently 3rd in League Two.

L	Newscastle (FAC)	(a)	0-1
D	Lincoln	(h)	0-0
W	Oxford	(a)	2-1
D	Bristol R	(h)	3-3
L	Northampton	(a)	0-1

Currently 20th in League Two.

Top Scorers

Town

Mansfield

Michael Reddy	8
Gary Jones	7

Barker	14
Brown	10

Team News

Town

Mansfield

New signing Ben Futcher is likely to go straight into the starting eleven with Simon Ramsden and Justin Whittle sidelined through injury. Futcher will wear the number 5 shirt vacated by Tony Crane. He will partner Rob Jones, to make the tallest pairing of defenderâ€™s in the Football League!

John McDermott hopes to be fit enough to play after being out since early December through an ankle injury. Russell Slade will have to decide whether to throw him straight back into the side or stick with on loan Matt Bloomer.

Michael Reddy has been struggling with a shin injury this week, but resumed training on Thursday so should be ok to start. Similarly, Gary Croft will be included in the squad after a spell on the sidelines, he is likely to be on the bench.

JP Kalala is on international duty with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Terry Barwick will once again be on the bench after returning from his loan spell at York City.

New signing Danny Reet will go straight into the side after completing his move from Sheffield Wednesday. He will partner Richard Barker in attack, with Allan Russell possibly moving onto the right wing.

Ten goal striker Simon Brown could return to the bench after being sidelined for the last six games with a hamstring problem. However, the Stags will be keen not to rush him back into action.

Experienced playmaker Darren Caskey is training with Town but Peter Shirtliff is yet to make a decision on his future.

Alex John Baptiste and Kevin Pressman took knocks to their ankles in the game against Newcastle last week but will start. Similarly Rhys Day has been suffering from a stomach strain but has trained this week.

Probable Teams

Town

Mansfield

1	Steve Mildenhall
28	Matt Bloomer
3	Tom Newey
4	Ben Futcher
12	Rob Jones
15	Gary Cohen
8	Paul Bolland
18	Ciaran Toner
11	Andy Parkinson
19	Gary Jones
9	Michael Reddy

1	Kevin Pressman
12	Jake Buxton
3	Gareth Jelleyman
5	Rhys Day
6	Alex Baptiste
8	Gus Uhlenbeek
7	Stephen Dawson
15	Giles Coke
18	Adam Rundle
31	Danny Reet
9	Richard Barker

Subs

Town

Mansfield

10	Martin Gritton
17	Terry Barwick
23	Nick Heggarty
20	Gary Croft
2	John McDermott

13	Jason White
16	Fraser McLachlan
22	Jon-Olav Hjelde
11	Adam Birchall
27	Jonathan Dâ€™Laryea

Head to Head

Town have not experienced the greatest set of results against the Stags. This is mainly due to the fact that Town havenâ€™t won at Field Mill since 1956! Nearly all of Townâ€™s wins against Mansfield have come at Blundell Park, with the last two finishing 2-0 to the Mariners.

P 33 W 9 D 9 L 15 F 42 A 51

Mansfield Head-to-Head (81st on The Opposition Ladder)

Last Meeting

The Mariners fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat in their last encounter with Mansfield when they met at Field Mill. The last time they met at Blundell Park, Town ran out 2-0 winners with goals from Jason Crowe and Thomas Pinault. However, last April the scoreline was reversed with Simon Brown and Adam Rundle securing all three points for Mansfield in front of a 3,424 crowd.

Grimsby Team: Williams, Crowe, Whittle, Forbes, McDermott, Parkinson, Pinault (Soames, 58), Coldicott, Fleming, Gritton (Ramsden, 80), Harrold
Subs (not used): Robert Jones,Hegarty,Crane

Mansfield Team: Pilkington, Jelleyman, Baptiste, Day, Buxton, Rundle (Herron, 86), McLachlan (Lloyd, 52), Neil, Brown, Barker, Larkin (Coke, 22)
Subs: (not used) White,McNiven

Attendance: 3.127 Â Â Â Report

Prediction

3-0 to the Mariners!

Recent Predictions

Game	Prediction	Score	Points
Carlisle	0-0	1-2	0
Wrexham	0-0	2-1	0
Lincoln	1-0	3-0	1
Bury	1-0	2-1	1
Bristol R	1-0	0-1	0
Rochdale	3-2	4-1	1
Oxford	1-1	3-2	0
Wycombe	1-2	1-3	1
Macclesfield	1-1	3-1	0
Bristol R	2-0	1-2	1

Reader's POMs

Directions

Click on the link for directions to Blundell Park (left).

Admission Prices

Click on the link for ticket prices to Blundell Park.

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