County v Mansfield: Match Thread (01/01/2024)

My first visit to EP in years and years (probably Mike Fynn's testimonial in 2014). Other than a few Gainsborough and Guiseley away games since, not a lot of live County over the last decade.

My 14 year old son got 2 tickets for my Christmas present this year, so an extra special day. Looking forward to the game and a full EP experience.

Anyone heard any news or whispers about Odin Bailey's loan deal which expires at the year's end? I'd be delighted to see his inclusion in our team to face Mansfield.
However, I guess Salford will be reluctant to extend the deal (or sell him) as he may well be seen as a vital player in their bid to avoid the relegation places.

Thanks for the update, Maccy. Let's hope we can secure him sooner or later.🤞

Best New Year wishes to you, all Heaveners and everyone connected with SCFC.

Worried about this one - Mansfield will really test us.

I took a look at Mansfield towards the end of November so, at the risk of repetition I'll just update that post here for results etc since then. I confess I'm not sure my opinion of them has changed all that much - they are good: especially defensively, but they draw far too many games for me to see them as a good, creative, attacking side.

So it's time to ask who are Mansfield and who have they beaten. Well as of today they sit second in L2 with a record of P 23 W 12 D 10 L 1 F 42 A 19. That 19 is the stingiest D in the division, only Barrow (20) and County (24) and AFC Wombles (27) come close. Their goal total of 42 is also pretty good. Only County (53), Notts (also 53), Wrexham (48), Swindon (46) and Crewe (also 46) have scored more. So why have they drawn (almost) as many as they've won? Let's have a look.

Their Ws are Morecambe (h) 3-0, County (h) 3-2, Accy Stanley (a) 0-3, Barrow (h) 1-0, Notts County (a) 1-4, Harrogate (a) 1-4, Walsall (h) 2-1, Salford (a) 1-2, Newport (h) 2-0, Crawley (a) 1-3, Sutton (a) 0-2 and Grimsby (h) 2-0. Their Ds are Crewe (a) on opening day 2-2, Disappointing Donny (a) 2-2, Grimsby (a) 1-1, Bratfut (h) 0-0, Cole U (a) 1-1, Gillingham (a) 1-1, Wrexham (h) 0-0, AFC Wombles (h) 0-0, Tranmere (h) 2-2 and Donny (h) 1-1. The solitary L is Swindon (a) 2-1 on Nov 25th.

Looking at that I'm struck that they do seem to have W against the two Counties and some playoff contenders but against that they've mostly beaten or drawn against weaker sides. Their H record is pretty good W 6 D 5 F 16 A 6, but their A record is also pretty good W 6 D 5 L 1 F 26 A 13 (so they scored 1.5X as many goals A as they have at H!), which is marginally better than County's A record. Recent form is good 6 Ws on the bounce in Oct and Nov although the last 4 were all against bottom half teams. Since originally writing this piece they have W 3 D 2 L 1 F 11 A 6 which is also pretty good but nothing really special.

Their top scorer is Davis Keilor Dunn (once of Oldham - 25 goals in 87 apps - and Burton Albion - 5 goals in 19 apps)) on 13, then comes Lucas Akins on 7 (formerly of Tranmere, Stevenage and Burton Albion - 65 goals in 307 apps). Next is George Maris on 6 (formerly of several clubs but mainly Cambridge U - 20 goals in 132 apps). Five players have scored a pair and 6 have each scored 1. So that looks like an efficient and effective team to me but not anything special, not anything world beating. Organised you might say.

They signed a lot of players in the summer - mostly at the back. F Will Swan scored 10 times in 34 apps last season and signed a full contract to join them in August, he was followed by LB Calum McDonald from Bristol Rovers (he played 10 times for County amongst other clubs), D Baily Cargill signed from FGR (he won promotion from L2 with both FGR and MKD), GK Christy Pim played 45 games for the Stags on loan from Peterborough last term and signed up for them this summer, FB Adam Lewis signed after being released by Newport (102 games). Also joining at the back were George Williams (ex Cambridge and Barnsley) and ex St*ke D Aden Flint. Leicester's CB Lewis Brunt joined on season long loan, as far as I can make out he's the only loanee at the club.

So that's a lot of Ds and most of them are pretty experienced which fits with the stingy D, but still I'm not seeing anything remarkable there. Hmmmm, a challenge no doubt but not a frightening one. They won 3-2 with a couple of late goals back in August in a game County could have won, leaving County in 19th place on 4 points, sparking some to say DC out! Thank goodness that didn't come to pass. As for this game, it's hard to pick a winner, although I favour County marginally, although if both sides were at full strength I'd fancy County much more. Neither side will particularly want to go wide open and attack, so I suspect a cagey 0-0 D is on the cards, or maybe a tight 1 goal affair. Either way I'm going to keep fingers, eyes and toes crossed on this one....

Elsewhere in L2:
9th placed Accy Stanley v 21st placed Team On A Slide Salford
8th placed Crewe also On A Slide v 11th placed Bratfut
20th placed Donny v 6th placed On Form MKD
Rock Bottom FGR v 7th placed AFC Wombles
17th placed Form Side Tranmere v 5th placed Notts
3rd placed Wrexham v 4th placed Barrow

So the top 4 all play each other and, I suspect, will be V Cagey, and the rest of the top 10 have fairly manageable fixtures.

More injury worries, what the f*** is going on? I'm not convinced that we're doing absolutely all the right things with our strength and conditioning of these players.

I'm not sure Clough snr would have approved of the darker elements of the game from Nigel's players, I've seen already what they're about and it's no wonder they're difficult to beat.