Archived News from January 2006
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STAGSNET`S STATISTICAL PREVIEW
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Apart from next week's home opponent Chester, Rochdale are the one side that have faced the Stags on most occasions since the Stags were elected to the Football League in the 1931-32 season. No wonder of that, as “Dale” played the Stags in all their division 3 (N) seasons, in all bar two of Rochdale's seasons in the old third division – in fact both teams were founder members of that division in 1958-59, when Rochdale was the first side to finish bottom of that league – and all but two of the Stags' seasons in the old fourth, finally all the seasons the Stags have played in the third division before last season – when the bottom tier was renamed into League Two. In fact, Rochdale have been stuck in the basement ever since the Stags first championship season in 1974-75.
Not only have the Stags faced Rochdale on a final day of a promotion season – May 2, 1992, when a 2-1 win and a Blackpool defeat 34 miles away at Lincoln clinched it – but also on a promotion season opening day. This happened in 1962-63, when the commencing game was at home to Rochdale on August 18, 1962, in front of 6121 who saw Ken Wagstaff net the only goal of the game. Mansfield and Rochdale have now crossed their league swords in 43 league seasons, and the first encounters took place in 1932-33 – and in fact the Stags won five ALL the pre-world-war-II Field Mill encounters to a score of 19-3. On October 12, 1932, Readman, Prior (2), and Bowater netted for the Stags in front of 4441. Worse was to follow on February 24, 1934, with a 5-0 stuffing thanks to two goals apiece from Johnson and Bytheway, also one from Munnings. In the Harston record-breaking season, 1936-37, he almost single-footed routed “Dale” with five of the six Stags goals, Atkinson getting the other in front of 7404 on September 9, 1936. Away games at Rochdale have only seen seven Stags wins and fourteen draws out of 43 outings, also a 1-7 mauling on March 4, 1950, oddly enough in a defensively strong Stags season in 8th position, Antonio netting the consolation goal. This is the biggest-ever Stags defeat in a game against Rochdale – and the latest away one ending in a 0-2 defeat after a poor showing on September 17, 2005, was also the last for Carlton Palmer as Stags manager due to his resignation only a few minutes after the final whistle. And the first away win at Spotland was recorded on September 1, 1936 due to Ted Harston's first hat-trick in his 55-goals season. One week later it was to be worse for Rochdale (see above). Memorable post-world-war II fixtures: - The biggest Stags win at Rochdale was a 4-1 on November 1, 1980, the last of six consecutive league wins that season. A Terry Austin hat-trick including a penalty was his last Stags haul before being sold to Huddersfield, the other scorers being the late Arthur Mann for the Stags and O'Loughlin for Rochdale. - Two away wins have been achieved in promotion seasons. The first was on March 1, 1975 when Clarke hit the only goal of the game – and the second was on October 12, 1991 when 3671 saw Paul Holland and Phil Stant strike for the Stags. - The teams fought against each other for promotion in 2001-02. On February 2, 2002, a good crowd of 4876 watched Greenacre net twice and Pemberton once in the 3-1 home win, a crucial one in the final reckoning. (In fact, Rochdale – like Cheltenham – drew more than double of the league games compared to the Stags and that contributed to Dale's 5th position – just one more win and Rochdale had overhauled the Stags in the 3rd position race). The away game on September 29, 2001 was lost 3-1 with Greenacre getting the Stags goal. Last season was the first since the 2001-02 season in which Rochdale finished in the top half. But just too many draws stopped Dale from being play-off candidates. In the 2003-04 season, former Walsall hot-shot Alan Buckley resigned after the home defeat against York, just two days after the game at Field Mill which saw Colin Larkin capitalize on a defensive mistake to hit the only goal of the game. Buckley was replaced by ex-Stags manager Steve Parkin, now in his second Rochdale managerial spell. And at Rochdale, the Stags put in one of the worst away performances in the 2003-04 season, losing 3-0. Last term, a late Colin Larkin goal, five minutes from time, gave the Stags maximum points at Field Mill. And the away fixture was drawn 1-1, Barker hitting a wonder goal to equalize Tait's early Rochdale strike, thus ending a spell of losing six consecutive away games at Spotland, and prior to that, between March 1, 1975 and April 5, 1997 the Stags lost once ONCE in twelve games at Rochdale, seven draws and four wins, the latest 1-0 in 1997 (scorer: Cresswell). The Stags' last home game was drawn 0-0 against Lincoln, while Rochdale's latest away fixture was lost 1-2 at Carlisle just before the New Year. Meanwhile, Rochdale have also sold their top-scorer, Holt, to Nottingham Forest. Some well-known names have managed Rochdale. Among them are Bob Stokoe in two spells, one before and one after Sunderland's FA Cup triumph in 1973, Harry Catterick (later for Everton, there succeeded by ex-Stags manager Billy Bingham), Jimmy Greenhoff, Eddie Gray and Alan Buckley. Another – maybe not so well-known - fact is that the Birmingham defence horror man of April 3, 1990, Steve Wilkinson, spent a loan spell without playing for Rochdale before signing for the Stags, but had a short loan spell at Crewe prior to putting on a Stags shirt for the first time. Played for both sides: Wilfried Barks, Phillip Bartley, Eric Betts, Andy Carr, Jamie Clarke, Simon Coleman, Ossie Collier, Graeme Crawford, John Dungworth, Thomas Dutton, Desmond Fawcett, Tony Ford, David Frain, Robert Frith, Paul Gibson, David Goodwin, Neville Hamilton, Wally Hunt, Ged Keegan, Noel Luke, John Meehan, Terence Melling, John Moore, Ernie Moss, Martin Pemberton (one game on loan from Stockport, loan period cancelled due to injury according to reports), Kevin Pilkington, Karl Rose, Ted Roseboom, John Ryan, Frank Spriggs, Steve Taylor, Reg Trotman, Keith Welch, Paul Wheatcroft, Steve Whitehall, Doug Wragg Managed both sides: Steve Parkin. Home stats: P 42, W 27, D 9, L 6, GF 88, GA 40 Away stats: P 43, W 7, D 14, L 22, GF 42, GA 68 Season Home Date Away Date 1932-33 4-1 1932-12-10 1-2 1932-10-01 Div 3 (N) 1933-34 5-0 1934-02-24 2-2 1933-10-14 Div 3 (N) 1934-35 1-0 1935-02-23 0-1 1934-10-13 Div 3 (N) 1935-36 3-0 1935-11-09 1-3 1936-02-29 Div 3 (N) 1936-37 6-2 1936-09-09 3-1 1936-09-01 Div 3 (N) 1947-48 1-1 1947-10-18 2-1 1948-03-06 Div 3 (N) 1948-49 2-0 1949-04-30 0-1 1949-04-04 Div 3 (N) 1949-50 1-1 1950-01-28 1-7 1950-03-04 Div 3 (N) 1950-51 1-0 1951-04-16 0-0 1951-04-14 Div 3 (N) 1951-52 1-1 1951-09-17 0-1 1951-09-04 Div 3 (N) 1952-53 2-1 1952-12-13 0-1 1953-04-29 Div 3 (N) 1953-54 2-0 1954-02-20 0-1 1953-10-03 Div 3 (N) 1954-55 3-2 1955-03-26 0-2 1954-11-06 Div 3 (N) 1955-56 6-0 1956-03-24 1-1 1955-11-12 Div 3 (N) 1956-57 2-3 1956-08-20 0-0 1956-08-29 Div 3 (N) 1957-58 2-4 1957-08-24 0-3 1957-12-21 Div 3 (N) 1958-59 0-0 1959-03-30 2-2 1959-03-27 Div 3 (old) 1960-61 0-2 1960-08-22 2-1 1960-08-30 Div 4 (old) 1961-62 0-1 1961-12-26 2-3 1962-04-11 Div 4 (old) 1962-63 1-0 1962-08-18 1-3 1962-12-15 Div 4 (old) 1969-70 1-2 1969-11-03 1-2 1969-11-24 Div 3 (old) 1970-71 3-2 1970-10-03 1-1 1971-04-12 Div 3 (old) 1971-72 3-1 1972-03-18 1-2 1971-08-21 Div 3 (old) 1974-75 2-0 1974-08-30 1-0 1975-03-01 Div 4 (old) 1980-81 2-2 1981-04-04 4-1 1980-11-01 Div 4 (old) 1981-82 4-3 1981-11-14 1-1 1982-04-03 Div 4 (old) 1982-83 2-1 1982-09-25 2-2 1983-02-05 Div 4 (old) 1983-84 3-0 1983-11-01 0-0 1984-02-14 Div 4 (old) 1984-85 5-1 1984-09-01 1-2 1985-05-14 Div 4 (old) 1985-86 3-2 1985-11-30 1-1 1986-04-26 Div 4 (old) 1991-92 2-1 1992-05-02 2-0 1991-10-12 Div 4 (old) 1993-94 0-1 1994-04-16 1-1 1993-11-02 Div 3 1994-95 1-1 1995-03-07 3-3 1994-10-29 Div 3 1995-96 2-2 1996-04-16 1-1 1995-09-16 Div 3 1996-97 0-0 1996-08-31 1-0 1997-04-05 Div 3 1997-98 3-0 1998-01-03 0-2 1997-08-16 Div 3 1998-99 3-1 1999-03-13 0-1 1998-11-07 Div 3 1999-2000 0-0 2000-03-28 1-2 1999-11-14 Div 3 2000-01 1-0 2000-11-11 0-1 2001-04-28 Div 3 2001-02 3-1 2002-02-02 1-3 2001-09-29 Div 3 2003-04 1-0 2003-12-26 0-3 2004-02-07 Div 3 2004-05 1-0 2004-09-18 1-1 2005-01-15 League Two 2005-06 (at Rochdale) 0-2 2005-09-17 League Two Svante Bernhard aka Sweden Stag (pictured, above right) Details from various sources (player updates compared to the preview of the away game in 2003-2004 are courtesy of the players who's who on the history CD) |
Latest | January 2006