Match Discussion: Game 11 - Stags (A)

[PON_News]

Game 11 - Stags (A)

Team: Mansfield Town

Date: 30/09/17

Where: One Call Stadium

What line-up should Kevin Nolan opt for? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

[Fozzy]

We appear to be getting better and better at the moment, whilst the Stags are just not gelling at all it seems, so you would expect that this will be Notts's best chance in years to finally beat them! Evans was sent off last night, so he probably won't be on the touchline and Stags fans are bemoaning their midfield and wasteful strike force, but they are still not that far off third place in the table.

I'd expect Notts to line up very similar to Saturday, rather than last night, with the exception of Dickinson still in for the injured Jones and I think it could well come down to the fact that we are more clinical in front of goal. I still reckon we'll lose 2-1 as we never get anything from Field Mill! Plus the fact that I won't be disappointed if we do, but really happy if we get anything from the game!

[DangerousSausage]

Oh god, Mansfield again. Let's just lose 42-0 and get all our goals conceded for the season over and done with.

[Chris]

At least this season we don't have to park the bus, so John Sheridan's negative tactics aren't going to cause us any humiliation. I do think Kevin Nolan will be able to identify Mansfield's weaknesses - it's important that we understand that they are likely to try something different.

I'm not worried, in fact I've got my ticket and eagerly looking forward to the game.

[StevieA]

Positive and direct, keep this momentum going. As long as we don't allow them to shut us down, which I think they'll try, I honestly think stags will go for a safe point just to end our streak. But i dont see why we cant come away with 3 points if we play our game.

[Wilfordpie]

Its one of those games where a draw will do.

The game will be tough but I expect us to stand more a chance this season.

[ARLukomski]

This is our best ever chance to beat them. I won't mind a point as it's the derby. But I can't take another loss to them. Stick to what we've been doing and we'll be fine.

[Who r ya?? You Pies!!]

Well the third game in this week's trilogy , 6 points gathered so far , more than I thought for the 3 games combined , (I thought 5) , Notts  in great form Mansfield stuttering a little , but a derby , we are different stuff to the last few times we have met , and oh my don't we owe them , come on Notts keep this terrific run going , 0-2 to the mighty piessssssssssssss 

[upthepies]

Nobody looks forward to visiting Field Mill, its one of the most depressing stadiums out there! @DangerousSausage

The timing for us couldn't be any better, but I do think that we will have the pressure. Mansfield may allow us to attack opting to sit back and knowing what that fat donut chaser Steve Evans will be happy to just try to play the game against us. We need to be cautions that they don't score against the run of play... This years team will want a good result, so I hope for a decent performance.

[DangerousSausage]

Seriously, you can forget the form book for this one. We'll be full of confidence and up for the fight, but how many times have I thought we'd be in a better position to beat them than in the previous season, only for us to fail abysmally once again? Obviously I'd be delighted to beat them, but I'd be more than happy with a draw right now. At least it keeps the unbeaten run going.

[Chris]

Form honestly means very little in games like this.

Often it goes down to whoever does their homework, and performs better on the day. We are in a good position but for me previous results go out the window here. Previous seasons Mansfield have thrived on being more successful on the pitch and probably enjoying seeing League Two Notts County struggle.

On Saturday, they have all the reasons to want to mean - even more so than previous seasons.

• The ability to knock us off our form/top position
• Bragging rights for beating the league leaders in a local derby played on home soil
• Being considered mostly likely the underdogs (this has helped us so far)
• Maintaining what seems to be the perfect record against Notts at the One-Call Stadium since their return to League Two
• Home soil (that sense of pride is a powerful thing)
• They're in decent form themselves now (putting aside Tuesday nights shocking defeat to Cheltenham Town)

They also have a team capable of scoring from all over the park, just like us and this won't be an easy game. On paper we have the advantage, yet it's all about how we do on the field.

I'm confident, but I can it easily being a draw due to both teams wanting the win.

[samwatto2008]

Personally after a tonking from Cheltenham and Steve Evans being sent to the stands i think the pressure is really starting to mount on their team after failing expectations by ownership and fans for the start of the season. Both team beat Lincoln so it will be a real test for both sides. Mansfield will be looking for 3pts no questions asked but i think Nolan would like a draw after a heavy round of fixtures recently. I think this will end up 2-2 (Grant, Stead). 

[liampie]

i think we just have to keep mansfield guessing and away from our penalty box. we should be okay if we frustrate them.

[Dazzad]

looking for a spare ticket for tomorrow if anyone has a spare to sell

[Chris]

1 hour ago, Dazzad said:

looking for a spare ticket for tomorrow if anyone has a spare to sell

I sometimes know people who can't make it, or are looking to get rid of a spare - if I see anyone in this situation I will e-mail you @Dazzad. It might be worth posting in the supporters group on Facebook in the meantime.

[Dazzad]

1 minute ago, Chris said:

I sometimes know people who can't make it, or are looking to get rid of a spare - if I see anyone in this situation I will e-mail you @Dazzad. It might be worth posting in the supporters group on Facebook in the meantime.

Thanks e.mail [email protected]

 

[liampie]

anyone else starting to get nervous? i should be thinking positively but i fear tomorrow could be the day we.....

[Who r ya?? You Pies!!]

@liampie  it's good to be nervous , it's a tough game , but positivity prevails for me matey , COYP , Kevin Nolan's black and white army 

[magpiejue]

I'm just going to hope we win. COYP

[super_ram]

All the best for tomorrow 

[Elite_pie]

Maybe it's the memories of our last few visits there, but I can't get too optimistic about today. At the start of the season I predicted the Stags might struggle to justify their 'favourites' tag due to the extra burden it places on them. I think they have a squad to better most in League 2, but they seem to lack the team ethic that Nolan has instilled into us. My worry is that they seem to realise their potential in the bigger games with bigger crowds (like home to Grimsby and away to Lincoln) but struggle to win the so-called easy games, like last week at Cheltenham. The good thing is that the result at this stage seems more important to them than us, even a draw will do me, so hopefully the short drive home will be a happy one.

[Chris]

I wasn't impressed. I'm not saying this to be biased in any way, I've held back sharing my views so I could write my thoughts as clearly as I see them.

I think the occasion firmly went out of the window before the kick off. The police didn't seem bothered, almost like it was an inconvenience for them to be attending the game (not all, but the majority I saw). I feel this, and certain stewards and barring on the impact before hand, there was one steward who was trying to have fights with fans before the getting into the ground.

Mansfield looked brighter, they didn't seem nervous but I do think Filed Mill was intimidating.

Our players didn't look like a side that had been in decent form, in fact they didn't look like they knew each other. Richard Duffy was awful! but he wasn't the only awful thing yesterday. Mansfield was woeful on goal in the first half and resorted to diving at every opportunity, the referee for me really ruined the game. There was one free kick whereby a Stags player burst down the flanks and just dropped himself, there was no Notts player near to him but the referee still awarded him a free kick.

It was baffling in truth!

I do feel Mansfield played better, though if they call that a good performance god help them. It wasn't, they won because we simply was good at all and there was no 'team' visible from the Notts perspective.

The score would probably be fairer at 2-1 but we made our own mistakes to grant the win to the Stags.

Stewards was awful, they looked for trouble and there was a lot of biased behaviour. I can't accept we was poor, that we lost due to this and I can credit Mansfield for stopping us from playing - yet the club seems a disgrace when they hire people firmly looking to start trouble.

[Elite_pie]

The start to the season we have had has been brilliant, and way better than I thought possible so Nolan and the squad deserve a lot of praise for their achievements so far. But I'm still full of anger and disappointment at the pitiful display we gave yesterday. Of all the places for the run to end, you just knew it would be there. When the inbreds started chanting "You're an embarrassment" I was 15 minutes ahead of them. I was thinking we were an embarrassment as soon as the third went in. It's becoming an annual humiliation, we seem to save our most inept display of the season for when we go there. It's the one game I want to win above all others, but yet again we handed them the points gift wrapped on a silver platter. This was a chance to put a hefty 12 point gap between the clubs and put serious pressure on Fatty Evans. Instead we've given their stuttering season a big boost. Even though I feared the worst, given the circumstances going into the game we blew it big time.

[liampie]

one game does not change or undo the good work being done.

i just want to forget it and hope that it was nothing more than a one off.

[Fozzy]

Yet again, the Mansfield hoodoo comes back to haunt us. I have to be honest, I didn’t even listen to the game as I just had that feeling that we would be stuffed!

I’m not going to let yesterday bother me because at the end of the day, I am very happy with the 6 points we got this week and having looked at the fixtures for the next three months, I’m thinking that we can win a lot of those to cement our place near the top, especially playing the bottom side next week to hopefully get us back winning again.