{ the news }
 
An independent supporters' website dedicated to Mansfield Town FC
Archived News from April 2006

STAGSNET`S STATISTICAL PREVIEW
18th April 2006 21:28


After losing both Easter fixtures to a solitary goal, first to a penalty at home to Leyton Orient, then away at Barnet on Easter Monday in a fixture in which one Stags player got a very harsh straight red card, another getting one booking too many, the Stags now face table-topping Carlisle, a side which were the Stags' opponents on the final day of the 2001-02 season, which also marked the previewer's first-ever visit to Field Mill – and a memorable one as well, too. Then, the Stags were challenging with Cheltenham and Rochdale for the final auto promo spot on April 20, 2002, and had to win – and Cheltenham, who a few days earlier were held 0-0 at Carlisle – had to lose at Plymouth. Early strikes from Wayne Corden and Andy White clinched it for the Stags – as well as two early Plymouth nettings at Home Park – and assured auto promo. But now the Cumbrians, in their come-back seasons, are just a whisker away from further promotion – and that not for the first time.

And the 2001-02 final day victory was sweet revenge on Carlisle, who – on the day 37 years earlier, had beaten the Stags to their first-ever promotion to the old 2nd division by winning 3-0 in front of 18764 – and finishing as old 3rd division Champions in 1964-65, one point ahead of Bristol City and the Stags. The day before, April 19, 1965, had seen the Stags beating the Cumbrians 2-0 thanks to goals from MacReady and Curry (was the goal taste too strong for the Cumbrians at Field Mill then?) attended by 13832, the Stags' 3rd highest home gate that season. In the 1964-65 season, Carlisle went straight through the old third Division after being second on just inferior goal-average to Gillingham in the old fourth in 1963-64. But on three other occasions, the Cumbrians have gone straight down to the basement after being promoted. It happened in 1962-63, 1995-96 and 1997-98. Carlisle also enjoyed a solitary season in the top flight (1974-75, see below) and did also manage successive relegations in the 1980's. First going down from the second tier in 1985-86, then sliding further after i.e. losing both fixtures against the Stags in 1986-87, then finishing bottom but one in the old fourth in 1987-88, yet nearly twenty points more than rock-bottom Newport County, who incidentally the season before followed the Cumbrians to the basement.

But the Stags and the Cumbrians had faced each other several times before the 2001-02 season – when Greenacre netted the only goal of the game at Brunton Park on November 10, 2001. And here are some memorable – and maybe not so memorable – picks from earlier fixtures.

* First league game was played on September 10, 1932, when the Stags won 3-1 (scorers Johnson 2, Bowater) in the old division 3 (N), attendance 7573.
* Biggest Stags home win was a 6-0 on March 31, 1934 when 3301 saw Methven grab a hat-trick, the other scorers being Hill, Kilcar and Munnings, attendance 3301
* First win at Brunton Park was a 2-1 on January 9, 1937 when 6162 saw Wood and Atkinson seal the points
* In 1950-51, both teams were riding high in the old 3rd division (N) gaining enough points to challenge promotion against normal opposition, Mansfield 64, Carlisle 62, but Rotherham then ran away with the championship on 71 points – a brace from Freddie Steele gave the Stags a 2-1 home win on September 30, 1950
* Highest scoreline is seven goals. This has occurred on four occasions, among them are three consecutive away ties: the worst-ever defeat at Carlisle, a 1-6 on December 22, 1956 – Stags scorer Darwin, a 2-5 the season before on April 12, 1956 (goals Jepson, Mitten) and a 4-3 victory early on in the 1957-58 which was the first Stags win during the last-ever division 3 (N) campaign, being achieved thanks to two goals apiece from Sammy Chapman and Dennis Uphill on August 27, 1957.
* One home game has produced seven goals as well. On March 17, 1962, the Stags won a 4th division encounter 5-2 thanks to two Peter Morris penalties, two goals from Roy Chapman and one from Ken Wagstaff in front of 5557.

The games in the 1964-65 season are mentioned above. And only three out of 66 League and FA Cup encounters have been goal-less, one being a home game on April 11, 1997 in front of the biggest Field Mill crowd that season, 4375, when the Stags manager of the 2001-02 home game, Stuart Watkiss, had a good goal disallowed – the only all-time goal-less draw at Field Mill, helping Carlisle to their so far latest promotion on League level. And apart from that, the Stags have only failed to score twice at home against the Cumbrians, and on both occasions, a solitary goal was enough to seal a Carlisle victory.

On November 15, 2003, the Stags created an unwanted Carlisle record – thus being the number of consecutive Cumbrians league defeats – when strikes from Corden and Mendes early on in the second half condemned Carlisle to a record 9th straight league defeat – beating a previous record of eight during the 1986-87 season. Carlisle eventually succumbed to twelve straight league reverses – several of them by the odd goal, though – before beating Torquay 2-0 at Brunton Park on December 20, 2003, and that played a major part in Carlisle's relegation to the Conf, from which they were the second side to bounce straight back via the promotion playoffs (the first one was incidentally Shrewsbury). Carlisle also became the first side having played played in the top flight – Carlisle enjoyed a solitary season in the old division One in 1974-75 – getting relegated to the Conf and bouncing straight back..... And in the latest Field Mill fixture, Carlisle won 3-2 to fight relegation, which was confirmed one week later. But it could have been settled at the Mill, had Liam Lawrence converted a 90th minute penalty with Carlisle leading 3-2 ... but the well-taken penalty was equally brilliantly saved....

In the away fixture at Carlisle in October, a late Hawley strike separated the sides in a dour fixture. Then Carlisle were mid-table but now haven't lost a league game since January 29, when Macclesfield won a home fixture to a convincing 3-0 scoreline. 12 league fixtures unbeaten since then did see the Cumbrians break a more wanted League record, the number of consecutive league victories, now seven before the 1-1 draw at Bristol Rovers on Easter Saturday, among them three 5-0 routs as well, at home to Rushden & Diamonds and Chester, away at Darlington. And a fourth Cumbrians 5-0 victory was sealed at Boston a couple of days before Carlisle's latest league reverse. The previous Carlisle record number of consecutive League wins was six, achieved in the 1994-95 season when the Cumbrians ran away with the Division Three title.

The teams have also faced each other in the FA Cup twice. The Cumbrians went through on both occasions – the first being a 5th round tie in 1974-75, the second in a 3rd round replay in 1980-81.

Played for both sides: Thomas Baxter, Danny Black, Ray Blackhall (correct name of his Swedish club prior to joining the Stags is IK Tord from Jönköping, where he played 10 games scoring three times in the Third Division Nordöstra Götaland during the 1982 season), Dave Caldwell, Peter Clark (at Carlisle around 1998), John Clayton (1930's), Ron Dellow, Michael Graham, Alec Gray, Kevin Gray, Matthew Hill (one Stags game, at home to Gateshead on May 1, 1937, won 3-2), Wally Hunt, Robert Hutchinson, John Jepson, Joe Laidlaw, John Lathan, Tony Lowery, Jim Lumby, Dennis Martin, Junior Mendes, Adam Murray, Neil Moore, Don O'Riordan, Gordon Owen, Lee Peacock, John Pearson, Gordon Presgrave (one Stags goal, in a 2-3 home defeat against Tranmere on February 6, 1937), George Rudkin (one Stags game, a 2-2 home draw to Southend on October 2, 1937), Adam Rundle, Arthur Sharp, Jamie Squires (one Stags game on loan from Preston early on in 1997-98).

Played for Stags, later managed Carlisle: Roddy Collins.

Home games: P 31, W 17, D 6, L 8, GF 60, GA 34
Away games: P 32, W 8, D 7, L 17, GF 33, GA 59

Season Home Date Away Date

1932-33 3-1 1932-09-10 1-3 1933-01-21 Div 3 (N)
1933-34 6-0 1934-03-31 2-3 1933-11-18 Div 3 (N)
1934-35 3-0 1934-10-06 1-1 1935-04-25 Div 3 (N)
1935-36 1-1 1935-10-12 0-3 1936-02-15 Div 3 (N)
1936-37 1-4 1936-09-12 2-1 1937-01-09 Div 3 (N)
1947-48 2-3 1947-09-08 1-3 1948-01-01 Div 3 (N)
1948-49 2-0 1949-04-02 1-3 1948-11-06 Div 3 (N)
1949-50 4-1 1949-08-27 1-1 1949-12-24 Div 3 (N)
1950-51 2-1 1950-09-30 0-2 1950-02-17 Div 3 (N)
1951-52 1-2 1952-01-12 0-0 1952-02-02 Div 3 (N)
1952-53 2-1 1952-10-18 0-1 1953-03-07 Div 3 (N)
1953-54 2-1 1954-01-16 0-5 1953-09-05 Div 3 (N)
1954-55 1-1 1955-02-26 2-1 1954-10-09 Div 3 (N)
1955-56 0-1 1955-12-03 2-5 1956-04-12 Div 3 (N)
1956-57 5-1 1956-08-25 1-6 1956-12-22 Div 3 (N)
1957-58 2-0 1957-09-02 4-3 1957-08-27 Div 3 (N)
1960-61 1-3 1960-09-19 1-3 1960-09-27 Div 4 (old)
1961-62 5-2 1962-03-17 0-1 1961-10-28 Div 4 (old)
1964-65 2-0 1965-04-19 0-3 1965-04-20 Div 3 (old)
1978-79 1-0 1978-09-30 0-1 1979-02-10 Div 3 (old)
1979-80 2-1 1979-11-06 1-1 1979-10-23 Div 3 (old)
1986-87 2-0 1987-02-21 2-1 1986-09-27 Div 3 (old)
1991-92 2-1 1992-04-11 2-1 1991-09-17 Div 4 (old)
1993-94 0-1 1994-01-15 1-1 1993-10-16 Div 3
1994-95 1-2 1995-04-01 1-2 1994-09-13 Div 3
1996-97 0-0 1997-04-11 1-1 1996-10-05 Div 3
1998-99 1-1 1998-09-12 0-0 1999-02-20 Div 3
1999-2000 1-1 1999-08-28 2-0 2000-01-29 Div 3
2000-01 1-1 2000-12-22 1-2 2001-01-27 Div 3
2001-02 2-0 2002-04-20 1-0 2001-11-10 Div 3
2003-04 2-3 2004-04-24 2-0 2003-11-15 Div 3
2005-06 (at Brunton Park) 0-1 2005-10-15 League Two

FA Cup

1974-75 1-2 1975-02-15 (at Field Mill) 5th round
1980-81 2-2 1981-01-03 (at Field Mill) 3rd round
1980-81 1-2 1981-01-06 (at Brunton Park) 3rd round replay

Details courtesy of “Mansfield Town the first 100 years”, its publication update, the history CD (updates on players having figured for both sides), Rothmans Book of Football League records, various editions of Rothmans Football Yearbook and a Swedish Football Yearbook from 1983 (details on Ray Blackhall when playing in Sweden).

Svante Bernhard aka Sweden Stag (pictured, above right)

 

Latest | April 2006