League 2 
Field Mill is the venue for a pivotal game in the League Two promotion battle as Mansfield Town are set to host Stevenage on Saturday afternoon. The hosts will be aiming to record a win to keep them in contention for the playoffs, whilst a win for Stevenage could almost guarantee them automatic promotion.
Mansfield are currently occupying eighth place in the League Two table and are level on points with Salford who are directly above them in the final playoff spot. Crucially, the Stags have a game in hand over Salford so can guarantee promotion by winning all three of their remaining games.
The Stags come into this game on the back of an impressive run of form which has seen them go eight games undefeated in the league, having drawn five and won three. This run has included impressive victories over the likes of Swindon and Crawley, both games in which Mansfield scored four goals.
Nigel Clough’s side featured in midweek League Two action as they travelled to Rodney Parade to face a struggling Newport side. A first-half goal from Hiram Boateng and a second-half goal from James Gale provided the Stags with an unassailable lead as the game finished 2-1.
Coming into this weekend, Stevenage are sitting in third place in the League Two table, and are currently just one point behind Northampton in second and four points above Stockport in fourth. Notably, Steve Evans’ side have a game in hand over both of these sides.
Stevenage come into this weekend on the back of a good run of form which has seen them go nine games without defeat in the league. Of these nine games, they have drawn four and won five and have won the past two outings.
Last weekend, Stevenage recorded a narrow victory over AFC Wimbledon. Boro opened the scoring early on in the game through Jordan Roberts but found themselves level at the break. Jamie Reid found a winner in the second period as the game finished 2-1.
Steve Evans’ side also featured in midweek League Two action as they hosted Doncaster in what was another tight affair. The only goal of the game came in the 13th minute thanks to Jordan Roberts as Stevenage were able to hold onto their slender one-goal advantage.
It is Mansfield who have dominated this fixture's recent history, with the Stags having lost just one of the last eleven meetings between these sides, a run stretching back to 2017. However, this is often a tight affair with none of those games being won by more than two goals.
These sides were forced to share the spoils when they met in the reverse fixture as they played out a gritty 0-0 draw at the Lamex Stadium. Neither side created much in the way of chances in a game bereft of quality and littered with free-kicks rather than free-flowing moves.
These sides are evenly matched at the bookies ahead of this matchup, however, it is Mansfield who are narrowly favoured and are currently priced @ 6/4, whilst an away win for Stevenage is priced @ 17/10 and a draw is @ 9/4.
We are backing Mansfield to win and under 2.5 goals because of their historical dominance of this fixture, paired with the low-scoring nature of their recent outings. The Stags have failed to score more than twice in all of their last three games.