After the dramatic injury-time equalizer at Lincoln, followed by the first home fixture postponement for a few years and a blank weekend due to being dumped out of the FA Cup, the Stags are in EFL Cup action this Tuesday.
And the opponents in the first round of knock-out stage is one fellow League Two outfit, Bury, who we played at their place two months ago and drew 2-2 due to an injury-time Bury equalizer.
And Bury, the only club that have scored over 1000 goals in each of the four UK professional division, were in FA-Cup action last Sunday and were dumped out at home to Luton by the only goal of the game.
In the past, Bury were twice FA-Cup winners within the space of three years without conceding in the final as Southampton crashed 4-0 in 1900 and Derby to a 6-0 scoreline way back in 1903, the highest ever FA Cup final victory over the years.
The sides have faced each other twice in FA Cup as well as EFL Trophy history. While the Stags ran out winners in the FA Cup twice, and on both occasions going on to reach the fifth round, in 1969-70 and 1974-75 respectively (in 1969 winning a first round replay at Field Mill, in 1975 winning away in the fourth round), the sides have won an EFL Trophy fixture apiece. The Stags after extra time in 1999-2000, Bury at home the following season.
To reach the knockout stages of this tournament, the Stags won all three games and therefore were guaranteed a home fixture, while Bury lost at Rochdale, then followed it up with home victories against Leicester City U 21 to a 2-1 scoreline and a 3-1 home win against Fleetwood.
Remains to be seen which teams both teams will field on Tuesday night. Surely some young guns from both playoff League Two contenders. One, Nyle Blake, opened the Stags scoring in the final group stage home victory against Scunthorpe a few weeks ago.
Played for both sides: George Anderson, James Ball (early 1900’s!!!), Luther Blissett, Lee Bullock, Giles Coke, Laurent D’Jaffo, Stephen Dawson, Eddie Edmonds (1934-35 vintage Stags!), Ben Futcher, Dave Goodwin, Chris Hackett, Glynn Hurst, Mark Kearney, Keith Kennedy, Adrian Littlejohn, David Lyon, Joe O’Neill, Keigan Parker, Thomas Peters, John Phillips, Kevin Randall, George Raynor (who later had much success as coach in Sweden, i.e. 1958 WC Finals!), Danny Reet, John Ryan, Jake Speight, Phil Stant, Matthew Tipton, Alan Tyrer (no mention of him playing for Stags in the 1973-74 Rothmans Football Yearbook while on Workington’s books!), Chris Withe.
Played for Stags, later managing Bury: Sam Ellis (managed the Shakers between April 1, 1989 and December 11, 1990). And the Sunderland 1973 FA Cup winners' manager, the late Bob Stokoe, managed Bury in two spells. Ian Greaves, the longest-ever serving Stags manager, was later coach at Bury. And the late Billy Ayre, Stags player in 1982-83, coached Bury a few months before he passed away in April 2002. Daniel Tremelling was assistant trainer at Bury in the mid-thirties. More recently, Richie Barker managed the Shakers, while Peter Shirtliff did manage both sides during the last decade.
Managed both sides: David Flitcroft, Peter Shirtliff.
Home stats: P 32, W 9, D 11, L 12, GF 42, GA 53
Away stats: P 33, W 5, D 12, L 16, GF 27, GA 47
Season Home Date Away Date
1957-58 6-4 1958-04-19 2-0 1957-11-09 Div 3 (N)
1958-59 0-2 1958-12-13 2-2 1959-04-28 Div 3 (old)
1959-60 1-5 1960-01-16 1-4 1959-09-05 Div 3 (old)
1967-68 1-1 1967-09-30 1-3 1968-02-10 Div 3 (old)
1969-70 3-1 1970-02-23 0-1 1969-09-30 Div 3 (old)
1970-71 1-0 1971-02-13 0-0 1971-01-23 Div 3 (old)
1972-73 1-1 1972-09-09 0-1 1973-01-27 Div 4 (old)
1973-74 1-2 1974-04-01 0-2 1974-01-27 Div 4 (old)
1975-76 1-1 1976-02-23 1-2 1975-09-23 Div 3 (old)
1976-77 5-0 1976-10-02 0-2 1977-03-12 Div 3 (old)
1978-79 3-0 1979-04-21 0-0 1978-12-30 Div 3 (old)
1979-80 1-0 1979-10-13 2-0 1980-02-23 Div 3 (old)
1980-81 2-0 1981-02-07 1-4 1980-09-13 Div 4 (old)
1981-82 1-1 1981-09-19 2-3 1982-01-30 Div 4 (old)
1982-83 1-4 1982-10-09 0-1 1983-02-19 Div 4 (old)
1983-84 1-1 1984-03-17 2-2 1983-10-08 Div 4 (old)
1984-85 0-2 1984-11-24 0-0 1985-04-20 Div 4 (old)
1986-87 1-3 1987-02-07 1-1 1986-09-16 Div 3 (old)
1987-88 0-0 1988-04-23 0-1 1987-11-03 Div 3 (old)
1988-89 1-1 1989-04-22 1-0 1988-09-24 Div 3 (old)
1989-90 1-0 1990-02-10 0-3 1989-09-16 Div 3 (old)
1990-91 0-1 1991-02-05 0-1 1990-09-22 Div 3 (old)
1993-94 2-2 1994-03-26 2-2 1993-10-02 Div 3
1994-95 0-2 1994-09-03 2-2 1995-03-25 Div 3
1995-96 1-5 1995-10-28 2-0 1996-04-06 Div 3
2003-04 5-3 2003-09-16 0-3 2004-03-16 Div 3
2004-05 0-0 2004-10-30 2-0 2005-02-19 League Two
2005-06 0-3 2005-11-11 0-0 2006-04-29 League Two
2006-07 0-2 2006-12-09 1-1 2007-05-05 League Two
2007-08 1-1 2008-02-26 0-2 2008-03-24 League Two
2013-14 1-4 2014-02-25 0-0 2013-10-22 League Two
2014-15 0-1 2015-03-14 0-2 2014-12-28 League Two
2018-19 (at Bury) 2-2 2018-10-06 League Two
FA Cup:
1969-70 2-2 1969-11-15 1st round at Gigg Lane
1969-70 2-0 1969-11-19 1st round replay at Field Mill
1974-75 2-1 1975-01-25 4th round at Gigg Lane
EFL Trophy
1999-00 2-1 1999-12-07 at Field Mill
2000-01 1-2 2000-12-09 at Gigg Lane