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Northampton home preview

Postby Sweden Stag » Fri Sep 28, 2018 10:25 am

After unluckily conceding late at Cambridge last weekend for the fifth Stags draw this season, a home fixture is now on the cards. This time it is against one of the relegated sides from League One, namely Northampton Town.

And the Cobblers have so far found it very hard to find their feet back in League Two action, as just one win, four draws and eight goals scored prove so far.

But that was a different story when Northampton last visited Mansfield. Then, on Easter Monday 2016, the Cobblers had been unbeaten for months and went on to clinch the League Two title. But the Cobblers went 2-0 down early on thanks to a Matt Green brace and were then helped by terrible refereeing. To pick two things courtesy of the Stagsnet report then: a wrongly awarded red card /second yellow/ against a Stags player late on in the first half, then a wrongly awarded penalty put the Cobblers back in the game.

Yet the Cobblers have won only three games at Mansfield during the entire Stags FL history dating from the 1931-32 campaign onwards. The latest of those came on the final day of the 2003-04 season when the Cobblers needed the points more than the Stags did then. For Northampton, it about staying in the playoff zone. The Stags were already there.

Here are some memorable Stags v Cobblers games:

* November 19, 1938. The Stags scored one-third of all their away League goals in the 1938-39 season by recording the first-ever away win in Cobblers Country to the tune of 4-3 and three strikes from Somerfield and one from Dutton in front of 8,774

* April 29, 1961. The Stags needed to win to have the chance to avoid re-election against an already promoted Northampton side that went on to play their only season at the highest level in 1965-66, then to be the first side to slide back to the basement at the end of the Stags great FA Cup season in 1968-69. The Stags won 4-2 in front of 4872, Ken Wagstaff netting twice, Delapenha and Jones one apiece

* May 7, 1977. The Stags last home game and the last one overall for the Cobblers. The Stags had already secured promotion and the Cobblers needed to smash the Stags unbeaten home record to have any chance to stay up and needing Reading and Portsmouth to drop points in their remaining fixtures. None of the Cobblers’ wishes came true as the Stags attended by 11,314 comfortably stuffed Northampton 3-0 due to goals from Bird, Moss and McEwan.

* April 24, 1990. Mansfield were seeking revenge for their only second home defeat against the Cobblers and gained a very vital win to secure their division 3 status and condemning the Cobblers to relegation due to goals from Trevor Christie and Mark Kearney in front of a paltry 2119 crowd.

* The 2-1 victory at County Ground on November 5, 1991 was the last in a sequence of seven consecutive away wins, the run starting at Chesterfield of all venues on August 31. 2181 at County Ground on Guy Fawkes’ day 1991 witnessed an Angus og and Greg Fee strike for the Stags, while Adcock netted for the Cobblers that night.

The teams faced each other in the final league game at Field Mill in each of the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. And immediately after the 2003-04 final league game, the teams faced each other again in the playoff semi-finals. First, the Stags won 2-0 at Sixfields, when the Mendes goal halfway through the second half finally put the game beyond the Cobblers’ reach and Northampton then had to score first in the return if they were to get back in the Cardiff reckoning. They did so and were even 3-0 up at one stags before Curtis pulled one back for the Stags. As the away-goals ruling did not count in the playoffs, the tie in front of a bumper 9243 crowd went into extra time, and then penalties! From the spot, the Stags converted all five while Pilkington saved Northampton’s fourth, a well-taken Sabin one to pull the Stags through to the playoffs finals. It was one of the previewer’s longest nights as a Stags fan! It was a historical play offs drama, to say the least. And this meant that the Stags have gone through in ALL games bar one, an FA Cup 1st round game at Northampton in 1946-47, at knockout stages against the Cobblers!

Only on three occasions have Northampton won a League fixture at Mansfield, the first one in the 1968-69 campaign. But the Cobblers lost eleven consecutive league fixtures at Field Mill, as One Call Stadium was called then to a scoreline of 26-3 from the opening day of the 1972-73 Division Four season up to the opening day of the 1988-89 campaign when the Cobblers managed a 1-1 draw.

During the last half-century, the sides have played each other quite frequently at current League One and League Two level. Since becoming the first club to rise from current League Two level to the highest one and back to the basement within just eight years, the Cobblers have never managed more than three consecutive seasons at current League One level. Since 1969, the Cobblers have been relegated from current League One on no fewer than six occasions (1977, 1990, 1999, 2003, 2009 and last season) while Northampton have been promoted on a few occasions as well, including scoring 103 in 1986-87.

Another interesting fact is that both clubs have had a Dave Smith as manager, the Stags between 1974 and 1976, while the Cobblers had a Dave Smith in the hot seat between 1954 and 1959. And the Cobblers manager by the time we played them in 2005-06, Colin Calderwood, started his league career at the Stags in 1982. Former Stag Mark Kearney has been youth team manager for Northampton as well. Peter Morris was acting and assistant Cobblers manager in the mid-nineties, and Clive Walker was the Cobblers manager for a while some ten years earlier. Adrian Boothroyd represented the Stags during his playing career and managed Watford by the time of the Hornets’ 2006-07 PL campaign. Between the sacking of Boothroyd and the appointment of Chris Wilder, the late Andy King, who bossed the Stags in the mid-1990's by the time of the Stags' League Cup victory against Leeds way back in 1994, was Northampton caretaker manager.

Current Burnley manager, Sean Dyche, played for the Cobblers in both fixtures against the Stags during the 2005-06 campaign.

And even some persons highly involved in the first-ever promotion for Östersunds FK into the Swedish equivalent to the PL a few seasons ago, have Northampton connections as players. Manager Graham Potter (now at Swansea) as well as the players Ryan Gilligan and Alex Dyer.

Yet another interesting fact is that Northampton, since the inauguration of the current League Two way back in 1958-59, have played EVERY side bar one which have featured in the FL including Premier League since then, i.e. the old Accrington club in 1960-61, Gateshead before they were voted out in favour of Peterborough, Bradford Park Avenue and Barrow in their final FL seasons, the current Aldershot club a few years back as well as having had trips to Anfield, Goodison Park and Stamford Bridge in the Cobblers’ solitary season at the highest level half a century ago, in 1965-66. The Cobblers have yet by the time of previewing to play Forest Green, but will do so in a few weeks’ time

Several players have appeared for the Stags and the Cobblers over the years. To name a few: Derek Asamoah, Lee Collins, Dave Syrett.

Played for both sides: Blair Adams, Daniel Alfei, Paul Anderson, Charles Anthoney, Dave Artell, Derek Asamoah, Matty Blair, Kim Book, Alfred Brown, Joel Byrom, Daryl Clare, Peter Clark, Lee Collins, Giles Coke, Zander Diamond, Efon Elad, John Fairbrother, Greg Fee, Fred Ferrari, Jamie Hand, Kevin Hitchcock, Thomas Knox, Pat Kruse, Colin Larkin, Jason Lee, David Logan, David Lyon, Paul Matthews, Jim McCaffrey, Edwin McLachlan, Junior Mendes, Louis Moult, Dean Peer, Ian Phillips, Alfie Potter, Ricky Ravenhill, Barry Richardson, Gary Saxby, Ben Sedgemore, Emile Sinclair, Adam Smith, Phil Stant, Dave Syrett, Greg Taylor (one League Cup game for Northampton as trainee in 2008), Glyn Thompson, Clive Walker, Keith Welch, Jason White (not the goalkeeper), Lee Williamson, Benjamin Wonnacott, Nick Wright.

Home stats: P 33, W 23, D 7, L 3, GF 64, GA 24
Away stats: P 33, W 9, D 5, L 19, GF 28, GA 49

Season Home Date Away Date

1931-32 2-0 1931-10-24 0-3 1932-03-05 Div 3 (S)
1937-38 4-1 1937-08-28 0-3 1938-01-01 Div 3 (S)
1938-39 1-1 1939-03-25 4-3 1938-11-19 Div 3 (S)
1946-47 3-2 1947-04-05 0-3 1947-01-23 Div 3 (S)
1960-61 4-2 1961-04-29 0-1 1960-12-10 Div 4 (old)
1967-68 3-2 1967-09-25 1-1 1967-09-05 Div 3 (old)
1968-69 0-2 1968-11-09 0-0 1969-01-18 Div 3 (old)
1972-73 1-0 1972-08-12 0-1 1973-02-17 Div 4 (old)
1973-74 2-0 1973-09-01 0-2 1974-01-01 Div 4 (old)
1974-75 3-0 1974-10-28 2-0 1975-03-25 Div 4 (old)
1976-77 3-0 1977-05-07 1-0 1977-03-08 Div 3 (old)
1980-81 2-0 1980-10-27 1-0 1981-01-10 Div 4 (old)
1981-82 4-1 1981-09-21 1-1 1982-02-09 Div 4 (old)
1982-83 2-0 1982-12-28 2-1 1983-04-02 Div 4 (old)
1983-84 3-1 1984-05-12 1-2 1983-12-18 Div 4 (old)
1984-85 2-0 1984-12-22 0-1 1985-04-30 Div 4 (old)
1985-86 1-0 1986-01-11 0-1 1985-08-31 Div 4 (old)
1987-88 3-1 1987-10-20 0-2 1988-04-10 Div 3 (old)
1988-89 1-1 1988-08-27 1-2 1989-03-18 Div 3 (old)
1989-90 1-2 1989-12-30 2-1 1990-04-24 Div 3 (old)
1991-92 2-0 1992-03-10 2-1 1991-11-05 Div 4 (old)
1993-94 1-0 1993-12-11 1-5 1993-10-12 Div 3
1994-95 1-1 1994-09-17 1-0 1994-11-10 Div 3
1995-96 0-0 1996-02-03 3-3 1995-08-26 Div 3
1996-97 1-0 1997-03-22 0-3 1996-08-24 Div 3
1999-2000 0-0 1999-10-19 0-1 2000-04-29 Div 3
2002-03 2-1 2003-05-03 0-2 2002-09-28 Div 2
2003-04 1-2 2004-05-08 3-0 2003-11-29 Div 3
2004-05 4-1 2004-09-05 1-2 2005-01-01 League 2
2005-06 1-0 2006-03-18 0-1 2005-12-26 League 2
2013-14 3-0 2013-09-21 1-1 2014-03-15 League 2
2014-15 1-1 2015-02-14 0-1 2014-08-09 League 2
2015-16 2-2 2016-03-28 0-1 2015-11-14 League 2

Playoffs:

2003-04 1-3 2004-05-20 2-0 2004-05-16 Div 3 playoff semifinals
(The Stags went through to the finals after winning 5-4 on penalties at Field Mill)

Cup games:

FA Cup

1946-47 0-2 1946-11-30 (at County Ground) 1st round
1948-49 2-1 1948-12-11 (at Field Mill) 2nd round

League Cup

1989-08-22 1-1 (at Field Mill) 1st round, 1st leg
1989-09-05 2-0 (at County Ground) 1st round, 2nd leg, Stags through 3-1 on aggregate

About time for the Stags to get the season back on track now. Come on Mansfield!

Details from various sources (Stags centenary book, soccerbase, the history CD /update on players/ and various editions of Rothmans Football Yearbook)
Stockholm, July 4, 2008, 15.00 GMT. Good news came, K.H. gone. March 1, 2012. Ground purchased.
Sweden Stag
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