Nigel Clough’s Mansfield Town side are currently giving the fans something to remember, not since the mid-seventies have they done what the current side is at this level, win five-in-a-row.

The last time the Stags put together that sequence, in English football’s third tier, was in the latter stages of the 1975-76 season, when closing out a season in which they finished eleventh, with an impressive, nine-teen game unbeaten streak.

The April of ’76 was when the side managed by Dave Smith won five-straight, seeing off Shrewsbury (2-1, A), Walsall (1-0, A), Aldershot (1-0, H), Chesterfield (2-1, A), and Sheffield Wednesday (3-0, H), with Gordon Hodgson netting three, and Ray Clarke two, of the nine goals – Clarke finished the season as top-scorer with 29, in some 61 games (League, FA Cup, League Cup, Anglo-Scottish Cup).

For Clarke, his spell at Mansfield was the prolific of his playing career, before moving abroad, first to the Netherlands, where he spent time at both Sparta Rotterdam, and Ajax Amsterdam, and in Belgium with Club Brugge.

It would be that one season he spent with Dutch giants, Ajax, that the Hackney-born Clarke would win the only silverware of his career, a League and Cup (Eredivisie and KNVB Cup) double, in 1979, finishing three ahead of rivals Feyenoord in the former, and defeating FC Twente, in a replay, to lift the latter.

Solidifying his legacy, Clarke would score in both of those KNVB Cup final contests, equalising from the penalty spot, late in the first half, in the first game, the game finishing 1-1 after extra time, before netting the opening goal, midway through the first half, in a comfortable, 3-0 win in the replay – heady times indeed for the Londoner.

Now, fast-forward nearly half-a-century, from that 1976 five-match winning run for the Stags, and the modern era side are at it again, with a little uniqueness about it for added measure; all five successes have come with the Stags netting twice in each, winning the first two, 2-1, and the last three, 2-0, defeating Blackpool by that score last time out.

Having enjoyed an unbeaten league run of their own, under new manager Steve Bruce, Blackpool were firmly dismissed from their visit to the East Midlands, the Stags racking up a third successive 2-0 win (Blackpool, Crawley Town, Northampton Town), adding to the back-to-back 2-1 successes immediately prior (Shrewsbury Town, Cambridge United).

Stephen McLaughlin was on-hand to provide assists for both Stags goals against Blackpool, Will Evans doubling his tally for the season to four, with a brace; the first arrived following a long cross from the left, Evans firing home at the back post, whilst the second also came from a long cross from the left, this time Hiram Boateng firing across goal for McLaughlin to head the ball back into the path of Evans, who notched his, and the Stags’ second of the afternoon.

Both sides had chances, but they were few-and-far between as victory for the hosts seen them move to joint-second in the table, level on 20 points with Wrexham, and only two behind early leaders, Birmingham City, in what is a busy month for Clough’s charges.

MANSFIELD TOWN (vs. BLACKPOOL) Christy Pym, Jordan Bowery, Deji Oshilaja, George Williams (Frazer Blake-Tracey, 80), Elliott Hewitt, Louis Reed, Stephen Quinn (Keanu Baccus, 65), Stephen McLaughlin, Hiram Boateng (Aaron Lewis, 66), Will Evans (Alfie Kilgour, 88), Ben Waine (Tom Nichols, 88)

With Lee Gregory currently joint-top of the scoring charts in League One, alongside Peterborough United’s Kwame Poku, on six apiece, and Evans moving onto four goals himself, it’s been an impressive start to the 2024/25 campaign, following promotion last time around.

There’s an international break now, before the Stags’ next game, they welcoming mid-table Stevenage Borough to the One Call Stadium on 19 October, followed by a midweek trip to Wigan Athletic (22 October); current leaders Birmingham then head to Mansfield in a top-of-the-table clash in the lunchtime kick-off on 26 October (12:30), before the month is wrapped up with the visit of Newcastle United U21s in the EFL Trophy.

*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).

*Main image @mansfieldtownfc courtesy of Stagsnet – Ray Clarke scoring for Mansfield Town in 1976.