Mansfield Town visit the Memorial Stadium tomorrow for what will be the 54th league meeting between the sides; Rovers having won 22 of the previous 53 encounters, to Mansfield’s 14 while 17 games have ended all square. Rovers have scored 75 goals in those games to Mansfield’s 66.
The first league meetings took place in what was then the Third Division (South) back in 1931/32. The sides played out a 1-1 draw at Eastville on 19th September 1931 and Rovers were 3-0 winners in the return fixture at Field Mill on 30th January 1932.
Prior to this season our last meetings were in 2021/22 and Mansfield were 2-1 winners at their place on the opening day of that campaign, while the return game at The Mem on 12th February 2022 was a goalless affair.
Rovers have already beaten Mansfield this season, as a Luke McCormick goal gave us all three points at Field Mill on 23rd November 2024 in front of a crowd of 7,357.
Former Rovers defender Keith Curle, as well as playing for both clubs, was in charge at Mansfield from December 2002 – October 2020. Graham Coughlan has managed both clubs and joined Mansfield after leaving Rovers in December 2019. His tenure at Field Mill was brief, though, and he was replaced by Nigel Clough in October 2020. He is now in charge at National league side Boston United.
Former Rovers manager Darrell Clarke began his playing career with Mansfield and appeared in 159 league games for his hometown club. Former Rovers goalkeeping coach Stuart Naylor also played for Mansfield, appearing in six games for them during a loan spell from Bristol City.
Apart from Curle, a number of other players have turned out for both clubs and they include; Craig Armstrong, Adam Barrett, Chris Beardsley, Andy Beasley, Hiram Boateng, Aidy Boothroyd, Craig Disley, Guy Ipoua, Scott Jones, Alfie Kilgour, Phil Kite, Reggie Lambe, Conrad Logan, Jeffrey Monakana, Tom Nichols, John-Joe O’Toole, Noel Parkinson, Scott Shearer, Matt Somner, Tom Stanton, George Williams and Calum MacDonald.
Four of those, Boateng, Kilgour, Williams and MacDonald, are all current Mansfield players and could well be facing us at The Mem, while Nichols is currently on loan at Swindon Town.
A number of post war players have made their Rovers league debut against Mansfield. And apart from John Petts, Trevor Rhodes and Patrick Keary, they have come in two games!
On the opening day of the 2004/05 season, Rovers were 2-0 winners at Field Mill thanks to two Junior Agogo goals. The following eight players made their first appearance in the blue and white quarters that afternoon; Stuart Campbell, Steve Elliott, Jamie Forrester, Craig Hinton, James Hunt, Robbie Ryan, Paul Trollope and Richard Walker.
The opening day of the 2021 campaign saw another nine players make their Rovers league bow; Harry Anderson, Nick Anderton, Trevor Clarke, Paul Coutts, Luca Hoole, Mark Hughes, Harvey Saunders, Connor Taylor and Luke Thomas. It was a losing start for this group, though, as Mansfield were 2-1 winners and Coutts was sent off. In spite of that losing start promotion to League One was achieved at the end of that season.
Mansfield, without a game last Saturday, are currently in 17th place in the league standings with 44 points from 37 games. Their last league match was against Barnsley when they registered a 2-1 win at Field Mill on 15th March.
Rovers, beaten 1-0 at Crawley last Saturday, are in 20th place with 42 points from 38 games, six points above the dreaded black line that separates the bottom four from the teams above them.
In our last two home games, we beat both Huddersfield Town and Bolton Wanderers and tomorrow we need to show the same togetherness and team spirit that saw us win those games. The support the team received during those two victories was outstanding and will be needed again tomorrow.
Enjoy the game
Up The Gas!
