Mansfield Struggling To Stop The Rot

Football Mansfield Town info@nottinghamsport.com February 11, 2025

Mansfield Struggling To Stop The Rot

A great start to life in EFL League One would see Nigel Clough’s Mansfield Town side reach the dizzying heights of fourth place, back in late October, following victory away Wigan Athletic.

That success was the latter stages of a season start which had seen the Stags collect seven wins and three draws, from their opening fourteen matches, notching twenty goals along the way, and keeping three clean sheets.

Since then, though, it’s not been so rosy as five straight defeats during November/December, seven matches without a win with draws bookending the losing streak saw them slip down the table.

Even a brief flirtation of FA Cup success couldn’t stem the tide, the Stags, who had won seven in their opening fourteen outings, have only picked up four successes since the turn of December, the woes at the One Call continuing to muster.

DECEMBER

The Stags went into the festive period with two defeats on the end of what was a five-match losing streak (six matches without a win altogether) as the season started to unravel.

Victories either side of Christmas looked to have stem the tide, Deji Oshilaja’s first half effort giving the Stags all three points in a home win over Rotherham on 21 December, whilst a Will Evans brace, and one from Baily Cargill, saw a 3-0 success away to Peterborough United.

Defeat to Reading the followed as the Stags finished 2024 with six defeats in their final nine outings of the year.

JANUARY

The New Year began as the previous, Reading withstanding, had ended, with two victories, back-to-back 2-1 successes against Bolton Wanderers (Stephen McLaughlin and Lee Gregory) and Stockport County (Lee Gregory and Will Evans).

A second, lengthy losing streak then began in mid-January also as, like the previous in November/December, the Stags have proceeded to lose their last five league outings (six in all competitions, exiting the FA Cup), over January/February.

The transfer window would begin with the loan signing of defensive midfielder, Matthew Craig, from Tottenham Hotspur however, the last three games of the month would see consecutive defeats, and exiting the FA Cup following a 2-0 loss at home to Wigan.

Formation-wise, and in contrast to the run of victories earlier in the season, Clough has reverted, on the main, back to the 3-5-2 formation and packing the midfield, compared to earlier, 3-1-4-2/3-4-1-2 formations.

In an interview at the end of January, Stags boss, Nigel Clough, told BBC Radio Nottingham of his sides ailing form that: “You can see our confidence is dwindling by the minute at the moment.

“We just have to scrap and fight like we did at Charlton to get points and stop the rot.”

Read full article, following the defeat to Crawley Town, HERE

OF LATE

This month, and with the transfer window closing and the only other further additions to the Stags squad being that of forwards Jordan Rhodes, and Caylan Vickers, on loan from Blackpool and Brighton & Hove Albion respectively, continues to see the One Call faithful tested as the slide continued.

Two further defeats saw the losing streak stretched further, and the Stags slipping even further down the league table, to fifteenth, on thirty-seven points; ten points off sixth place Charlton Athletic (the last play-off spot, with a game in hand), the Stags are also, worryingly, just eleven points off fourth-bottom Burton Albion, who sit in the last of four, relegation places.

NORTHAMPTON TOWN

Late September would see the Stags, in the midst of their winning streak, collect a 2-0 win away to Northampton Town, Clough utilising a 3-1-4-2 formation with the following line-up

Christy Pym; Elliott Hewitt, Deji Oshilaja, Baily Cargill; Louis Reed; Keanu Baccus (George Maris), Hiram Boateng (Aaron Lewis), Stephen Quinn (Jordan Bowery), Stephen McLaughlin; Lee Gregory, Will Evans (Ben Waine)

A little over four months later and the Stags faced Northampton again, this time at home, slipping to a 1-0 loss, the hosts’ sixth straight, this time Clough adopting a 3-5-2 formation in the last outing

Christy Pym; Elliott Hewitt, Aden Flint, Jordan Bowery; Lucas Akins, Keanu Baccus (Stephen Quinn), Aaron Lewis (Hiram Boateng), George Maris (Alfie Kilgour), Stephen McLaughlin; Lee Gregory (Jordan Rhodes), Caylan Vickers

Substitutions withstanding, the line-ups are pretty much the same, although recent signings are being integrated.

PLAYERS

Loyalty does count for a lot in the beautiful game, but it can also come at a cost as well.

At Mansfield, and there’s some really good players on the books shown by their appearances, the struggles this season is not just because of any inexperience at a higher level, but also for lack of back-up.

In Mansfield’s case, that is with their defence where goalkeeper Christy Pym has played 31 times and his understudy, Scott Flinders, five – and that’s where the department ends – no main support.

The back-line, and with Alfie Kilgour having returned from a lengthy lay-off, both Stephen McLaughlin and Deji Oshilaja have made more than thirty appearances, and another four have registered twenty plus.

Back-ups in George Williams and Calum McDonald seem to have fallen out-of-favour whilst any further back-up, four academy players with one appearance apiece.

Midfield and stack for the Stags, there’s no real issues there (not there’s issues with the defence, they just need a break/freshened up), and the additions of Jordan Rhodes and Caylan Vickers up top, should help push things on.

The likes of Aaron Lewis, George Maris, Keanu Baccus, Louis Reed, Hiram Boateng, and Stephen Quinn, as well as a talent pool from the academy, give them strong options in the centre of park, with a defender-or-two able to push forward, and a striker-or-two able to drop back.

Up top, and they need to start firing more, the Stags can rely on a plethora of strikers, Rhodes and Vickers being added to Lucas Akins, Jordan Bowey, Will Evans, and Lee Gregory, as well as a handful others – however, they’ve only notched 35 goals in 28 games, one more than Rotherham United, two more than Exeter City, and ten less than Peterborough United, all sides beneath them in the table.

A possible line-up, taking into consideration perceived lack of availability, and new signings, for Clough’s side, could look as such (5-3-2)

Christy Pym;

Elliott Hewitt, Alfie Kilgour, Baily Cargill, Aden Flint, Frazer Blake-Tracey;

Aaron Lewis, George Maris, Louis Reed;

Lee Gregory, Jordan Rhodes

(Subs chosen from – Jordan Bowery, Deji Oshilaja, Aden Flint, Stephen Quinn, Hiram Boateng, Stephen McLaughlin, Caylan Vickers, Lucas Akins, Will Evans, Scott Flinders/Harrison Leech/Lincoln Wolf)

Whilst continuing blooding academy players with the like of Taylor Anderson, Darien Wauchope, Finn Flanagan, Ronnie Kokkinos, and McKeal Abdullah being afforded further opportunities.

NEXT UP

It’s back-to-back away games for Clough’s Stags as they travel to ninth place Leyton Orient (11 February) followed by a trip to Blackpool four days later (15 February); February closes with back-to-back home games with Lincoln visiting on 18 February, before welcoming high-flying Wrexham on the 23 February – a tough ask but the Stags will need to aim for maximum points in the first three of those matches ahead of the Wrexham visit.