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Newport playoff first leg preview

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Newport playoff first leg preview

Postby Sweden Stag » Thu May 09, 2019 5:43 am

Following the extremely disappointing finish to the regular season, to print the very least, the Stags now face Newport County in the first leg of the playoff semifinals at Newport on Thursday night. And the second playoff semifinal pairing ís Tranmere (sixth) against Forest Green (fifth), playing their first leg on Friday night.

This is also the first time ever, all playoff contenders in the League Two playoffs, have had previous National League playoff experience. Also the first time ever, a previous National League playoff final pairing is one in a higher grade, namely Tranmere against Forest Green, also being the 2017 National League final one.

This will be Newport’s first appearance in the playoffs since following the Stags into League Two way back in 2013. Then, Newport beat Grimsby over two legs in the semifinals, followed up by two very late goals against Wrexham in the final. The same Wrexham side which the Stags beat in the final game of the regular 2012-13 season thanks to a Matt Green penalty which secured the League Two return.

For the Stags, it will be their first playoff semifinal appearance since the 2011-12 season, when the Stags lost against York over two legs after Matt Green had been wrongly sent-off at York in the first leg. Had the away goals ruling counted (as elsewhere in Europe), the Stags had gone through the final (1-1 at York, 0-0 at Mansfield after normal time). York then went on to beat Luton in the final.

As an EFL club, this is the Stags’ first playoff appearance since the 2003-04 season, in which the Stags beat Northampton in dramatic fashion in the semifinals. After winning 2-0 down in the Cobblers Country, the Stags found themselves 3-0 down at headquarters before pulling a goal back. As the away goals ruling did not count (Northampton had benefitted from that if it had counted), the Stags went through on penalties after extra time, then only to lose against Huddersfield on spot-kicks at Cardiff.

This was also the Stags’ second playoff appearance of all time since those were introduced in the 1986-87 season. In 1994-95, the Stags were paired against arch-rivals Chesterfield who went through after 1-1 at Mansfield and a somewhat controversial 5-2 victory at Saltergate. The Spireites then beat Bury in the playoff final, later went on to play an FA Cup semifinal, and in current League One, playing sides like Burnley, Manchester City, Fulham and Stoke City to name but a few.

Incredibly enough, all the sides who previously had beaten the Stags in the playoff semifinals, then went on to win the playoff final.

IMO, the Stags should (and could) have sewn up automatic promotion weeks ago. Think the very poor decision to disallow a late goal at Oldham a few weeks ago played a major part. Also injuries to key players, especially on Hayden White and Bobby Olejnik, played a part, too. Injury-time goals against (Colchester at home, Bury away and notably Stevenage at home) cost the Stags five points, but injury-time goals scored (at Cheltenham and Lincoln respectively) gained the Stags two points during a spell of seventeen League games unbeaten, the Stags’ longest such run since the 1975-76 Division Three campaign. The final third of the current campaign proved costly, starting incidentally at Newport three months ago in a fixture which saw one of the worst refereeing displays this season, one of three Stagsnet stinker ratings =4 in the Stagsnet match reports (the other two were Notts County away and Swindon away, in the Notts County away game, a PL ref had a stinker). On the other hand, regardless of League results, the ref ratings deteriorated in the second half of the season compared to the first half (having checked the match reports, about a dozen officials got a 5 rating, and in one case, a 5.5 rating). And before the MK away game in which the ref was rated 7, there had been three consecutive 5 ratings.

The Newport v Stags semifinal pairing is the third one in playoff history with two sides being promoted together from the current National League since two up, two down was introduced in 2002-03, the Stags’ so far latest season above the basement. The first pairing was the one between Morecambe in fourth position against Dagenham & Redbridge in seventh position in 2009-10. The Daggers eventually went on to beat Rotherham in the final. (The Daggers and Morecambe were promoted together in 2006-07).

The second pairing was the one between York in seventh position against Fleetwood in fourth during the Stags’ FL comeback season in 2013-14. Fleetwood progressed to the final and are so far the latest League Two side finishing fourth in the regular season to win a League Two playoff final while a couple of sides finishing seventh have gone through. Since the Stags’ latest playoff final appearance in 2004, Dagenham & Redbridge in 2010, Crewe in 2012, Bradford City in 2013, AFC Wimbledon in 2016 and Blackpool in 2017 have done that. Fleetwood and York were promoted together in 2012

On four occasions prior to the 2013-14 campaign, the side which finished fourth in the regular season went on to win the final. Three in a row by Bournemouth in 2002-03, Huddersfield in 2003-04 and Southend in 2004-05 was followed by Stockport in 2007-08.

Newport, who for the second season running made FA Cup headlines, this season by beating Leicester and Middlesbrough at home, the latter in a replay to set up a plum tie against Manchester City, scraped into the playoffs by finishing the season with ten games unbeaten and just three goals conceded, scoring a vital equalizer at Morecambe with three minutes remaining of that game, topping the great escape from the trap door two seasons earlier, when a 90th minute winner against Notts County preserved Newport’s FL status at the expense of Hartlepool.

For details on previous FL games and players having appeared for the Stags and the current Newport club, see previous Stagsnet previews, most recently the one on the latest league fixture on February 9 this year. Incidentally enough, the sides clashed at Mansfield on the opening day in a fixture which was to finish in the sixth consecutive Stags home victory against the Newport Exiles.

Expect a tight game at Newport on Thursday night. Hopefully the Stags (with TWO ever-presents this season, CJ Hamilton and Krystian Pearce, well done), will come back strongly after the recent disappointment of missing out on promotion. On the other hand, Newport had no ever-present, while two players started in 45 games. Details checked, and if the previewer had counted correctly, both the Stags and Newport called upon 28 players during the regular season.

The Stags’ top scorer is Tyler Walker with 22 League Two goals, while Newport had two on 14 goals respectively, namely Padraig Amond and Jamille Matt.

Come on Mansfield !
Stockholm, July 4, 2008, 15.00 GMT. Good news came, K.H. gone. March 1, 2012. Ground purchased.
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