Form
Mansfield Town finished 10th in League One last season, two places and two points ahead of Reading. This season marks their third straight year in the third tier, having secured promotion from League Two in 2024, after finishing third in the league.
The Stags have had a strong start to the season, picking up six points out of a possible nine, with home wins against Doncaster Rovers and Luton Town. They lost their one away league game so far to Peterborough United.
Mansfield come into this weekend’s
game off the back of an impressive 5-2 win over Luton at the weekend, with Nathan Moriah-Welsh and Jon Russell both scoring a brace. They’ve had less success in the cups so far, after being knocked out of the League Cup in the first round by Sheffield United and losing their first EFL Trophy game to Manchester City under-21s.
Last season’s showdowns between the Stags and the Royals saw the sides draw 1-1 at the SCL Stadium last October, before Mansfield claimed a 1-0 home win back in March this year.
The boss
Nigel Clough: Clough became Mansfield manager in November 2020, taking over from Graham Coughlan, who spent just under a year in charge of The Stags.
Clough had a 20-year-plus career as a player and was a forward who represented the likes of Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, Manchester City and Burton Albion, while also picking up 14 caps for England.
Son of the legendary Brian Clough, Nigel followed in his father’s footsteps, taking up his first managerial role at Burton in 1998, where he became player manager. He spent over 11 years at Burton, managing them in non-league.
Clough went on to join Derby County in January 2009, where he spent four and a half years managing them in the Championship. He then moved to Sheffield United in 2013 before returning to Burton in 2015.
He guided Burton to the Championship in his first season, after finishing second in League One, and managed to keep them in the second tier for two seasons, before suffering relegation in 2018.
Clough left Burton in 2020 and joined Mansfield later that year. He led the Stags to promotion to League One in the 2023/24 season and has since guided the club to 17th- and 10th-placed finishes in the third tier.
The 60-year-old is known to be a strong tactician who likes his sides to play attacking, possession-based football.
Squad
Mansfield brought in six new players during the summer transfer window, with four signing permanently and two joining on loan.
The Stags have utilised the free market, signing midfielder Russell, who spent time on loan at the club last season, as well as strikers David McGoldrick and Michael Smith. Their other permanent addition was midfielder Liam Thompson, who joined from Derby for an undisclosed fee.
Defender Owen Dodgson and midfielder George Abbott have both arrived on loan, joining from Stockport County and Tottenham Hotspur respectively.
Town will be without defenders Baily Cargill and Jordan Bowery on Wednesday night, while forward Tyler Roberts is also an injury doubt.
Expected setup
Formation: 3-1-4-2
Style: Possession-based, passing football
Lineup: Roberts, Knoyle, Oshilaja, Sweeney, Reed, Moriah-Welsh, Russell, Thompson, McLaughlin, Hendry, Smith
Key player
13. Jon Russell: Midfielder Russell joined Mansfield on a free transfer this summer, following the end of his contract at Barnsley.
He started his career in the youth setup at Chelsea and made a number of appearances for their under-18 and under-23 sides. The midfielder was unable to break into the Blues’ first team but gained senior experience in a loan spell at Accrington Stanley during the 2020/21 season.
Russell signed for Huddersfield Town in 2021 and spent two seasons at the Terriers before joining Barnsley in January 2023. He made 113 appearances for the Tykes, scoring 19 goals.
He found first-team appearances hard to come by last season and spent the second half of the season on loan at Mansfield. Russell scored five goals during that loan spell with his performances earning him a permanent deal.
The 25-year-old is a Jamaican international who has 17 caps to his name. Standing at 6ft4, Russell is a powerful box-to-box midfielder who can also play in the number 10 role.
One to watch
22. Nathan Moriah-Welsh: Midfielder Moriah-Welsh joined Mansfield last June, signing from Hibernian for an undisclosed fee.
He spent time in the academy at Reading before joining the Bournemouth youth setup in 2018. Moriah-Welsh made two appearances for the Cherries, both in FA Cup games in 2022.
He spent a season on loan at League Two Newport County the following season, before signing for Hibernian for an undisclosed fee in January 2024. The 24-year-old spent a season and a half up in Scotland before joining Mansfield on a permanent deal last June.
Moriah-Welsh has made 54 appearances for the Stags since joining, scoring three goals, with two of those coming at the weekend. He is a Guyana international who has 28 caps for his country. Moriah-Welsh is a central midfielder with a strong engine.
