Bristol Rovers take on Mansfield Town at Field Mill (now the One Call Stadium) on Saturday in what will be the 53rd league meeting between the sides.
Of the games played to date, Rovers have won 21, Mansfield 17 and 14 games have ended all square, Rovers have scored 74 goals in those meetings, while Mansfield have managed 66.
There have been some memorable games down the years and include a 2-0 Rovers win at Field Mill on the opening day of the 2004/05 season at the beginning of Ian Atkins’ managerial reign, a 4-4 draw at The Mem in March 2005 and a 3-3 draw at Field Mill in December that same year.
There was also that dreadful day on 3rd May 2014 when Mansfield were 1-0 winners at The Mem, a result that saw Rovers relegated to The Conference. Then there was a 2-1 Rovers win at Field Mill in October 2015 when the home side picked up two red cards to the one collected by Rovers.
The last time we played at Field Mill was on the opening day of the 2021/22 season when the home side ran out 2-1 winners and Rovers had Paul Coutts sent off.
It’s interesting to note that the two opening day games between the sides at Field Mill, referred to above came exactly 17 years apart, on 7th August 2004 and 7th August 2021. In 2004 eight players made their Rovers league debut while that number was beaten in 2021 when nine players appeared in a Rovers shirt for the first time.
The eight in 2021 were; Stuart Campbell, Steve Elliott, Jamie Forrester, Craig Hinton, James Hunt, Robbie Ryan, Paul Trollope and Richard Walker.
In 2021 the nine were; Harry Anderson, Nick Anderton, Trevor Clarke, Paul Coutts, Luca Hoole, Mark Hughes, Harvey Saunders, Connor Taylor and Luke Thomas.
There are some familiar names in the Mansfield squad, most notably George Williams, Alfie Kilgour, Hiram Boateng and Tom Nichols and it’s good to see Alfie back in contention after he missed most of last season through injury.
Mansfield finished third in last season’s League Two table and were promoted automatically, and they have made a very good start to the current campaign, currently occupying 7th place with 24 points from 13 games while Rovers have 18 points from 15 games and are down in 14th place.
In terms of current form, Mansfield have won 3, drawn one and lost two of their last six games. International call ups meant that they were without a game last Saturday, so whether or not an enforced break will affect their form remains to be seen.
Rovers have won two, draw two and lost two of their last six games and last Saturday, after dominating Crawley in the first half, when they could easily have scored three or four goals, they were on the back foot for much of the second half and had to make do with a point from a goalless draw.
On the road. Rovers have collected just one win (at Burton) and one Draw (at Rotherham) while they have been beaten on five occasions. Mansfield, meanwhile, have lost just one game at home and won three and drawn three.
With one third of the season gone, it’s important to string together a run of consistent results or risk remaining in the bottom half of the table. True, there are still 31 games to play but a win on the road would be a major boost this weekend ahead of Tuesday’s game against Blackpool at The Mem.
Wishing all travelling Gasheads a safe trip to, and from, Field Mill.