Preview: Mansfield v Grimsby

The Opposition

The Football League’s ruling for this trophy means that both teams must start with 6 of the 11 players with the most appearances this season. Scunthorpe and Hartlepool were both fined for breaking this rule in the first round, even though they both won their respective ties. Despite this, both Town and Mansfield would be expected to rest players who are carrying knocks.

After such an impressive turnaround by Shirtliff, Mansfield were outsiders for promotion this season, but have made a slightly disappointing start to the campaign. They received a bye in the first round but, despite winning this trophy in 1986/87, they have a poor recent record in this tournament and one penalty shoot out win is all they have to show for the last 6 seasons.

Ex-Mariner Michael Boulding (left) joined The Stags in the summer. After announcing his retirement in the summer of 2005, Boulding joined Rotherham towards the end of last season on a non-contract basis, but then made the return to his first club and was rewarded with a contract after impressing in trial. Boulding has been out injured for a fair part of the season but still scored three goals. When playing he has mainly been used on the wing due to the formidable partnership between Richie Barker and Danny Reet, who have 10 and 7 goals respectively. Midfielder Matt Hamshaw scored at Blundell Park in the 1-1 draw earlier this season and also scored for Stockport at Blundell Park last season. Keeper Kevin Pressman retired in the summer and has been replaced by the experienced Carl Muggleton who played the majority of his career at Leicester and Stoke.

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Head to Head

The Mariners have an awful record at Mansfield, and their victory in the 1955/56 season remains their only victory record at Field Mill.

P 36 W 10 D 10 L 16 F 46 A 55

Mansfield Head-to-Head (82nd on The Opposition Ladder)

Last Meeting

The last time Town visited Field Mill was in February when Town were top of League 2. Glaring errors by Tom Newey and Steve Mildenhall gifted the home side a 2-0 half time lead, before Curtis Woodhouse’s only goal for the club pulled one back in the 2nd half; but Town were unable to rescue a point and relinquished top spot.

Mansfield Team: Pressman, Jelleyman (sent off 73), Hjelde, Buxton, Baptiste, Wilson, D'Laryea, Coke, Dawson, Barker, Reet (Lloyd, 76)
Subs (not used): Uhlenbeek, White, Rundle, Arnold

Grimsby Team: Mildenhall, Newey, Jones, Futcher, Croft (Kalala, 77), Parkinson (Jones, 67), Woodhouse, Bolland, Cohen, Mendes (Toner, 85), Reddy
Subs: (not used) Downey, Barwick

Attendance: 3,053  Report

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