Mansfield Town welcome Stockport to Field Mill this weekend in their fifth match of the 2023/24 League Two season. The Stags have had a positive start to the season with some good points on the board whereas Stockport have also managed some good points, but will be eager to get some more on the board.
Mansfield sit tenth in League Two currently with six points to their name. In four games, Mansfield have one win and three draws with The Stags not yet losing a game in the league. They are one of only three teams on six points, but Mansfield sit top of the pile with a goal difference of three.
The Stags opened their season with a trip to Crewe Alexandra. Mansfield raced into a 2 - 0 lead through a brace from KD Davis but Crewe did manage to halve Mansfield’s lead before halftime with a goal from Mickey Demetriou. Rio Adebisi then drew Crewe level to the final score of 2 - 2 in the second half just minutes after Calum MacDonald was shown a red card. The next game was Mansfield’s first home game of the season and saw them grab their first win of the season. Lucas Akins’ brace and another Davis goal gave The Stags a 3 - 0 win over Morecambe.
The two most recent games both ended in draws. First against Doncaster and then against Grimsby. Louis Reed and George Maris earned Mansfield the 2 - 2 draw against Doncaster and Rhys Oates’ goal grabbed a 1 - 1 draw against Grimsby.
Stockport, however, sit 16th in League Two on just four points. With one win, one draw and two losses, Stockport have improved from their bad start to the season. Like Mansfield, there are three teams on four points, with Stockport having the best goal difference as well.
Stockport opened their season with a 1 - 0 loss to Gillingham and then a 2 - 1 loss to Walsall, where Ryan Rydel managed to get on the scoresheet. Stockport’s first point of the season when Isaac Olaofe scored in the 80th minute and cancelled out Bradford’s lead through Alex Pattison leaving Stockport with a 1 - 1 draw. The first win of the season came the weekend after with Louie Barry’s goal giving them the 1 - 0 and the three points.
In the midweek Stockport faced Manchester United’s U21 team in the Football League Trophy. Olaofe converted a penalty in the 13th minute of extra time to level the game at 1 - 1 and send it to penalties. However, with Rydel’s miss, United won 5 - 3.
Mansfield and Stockport have met 82 times in their histories with there being a very marginal difference between the two sides. The Stags have won on 31 occasions whereas Stockport have beaten Mansfield 30 times. However, there has also been a large number of draws in the fixture, with the points being shared on 21 occasions.
In the last five games between the two sides there has been one draw, two Mansfield wins and two Stockport wins. However, before the last two games in the 2022/23 season, the other meetings were all the way back in 2008.