Mansfield booked themselves a mid table finish last season in League Two and they earned a point in a real ding dong ballet at Crewe on the opening weekend of the new season. So a decent point for them in the end and they get a shot at home against the newly promoted Forest Green Rovers who won promotion via the National League play offs last season. Forest Green started their League Two campaign with a draw as well as they were pegged back by Barnet in a competitive match up at the New Lawn.
Mansfield are 3/4 favourites on home soil to land the win in this one, leaving Forest Green Rovers at a big, but a not unappealing price of 7/2 to bag themselves the three points. Given that both of them played out 2-2 draws last weekend in their respective matches, it suggests that there could be plenty of action flying around at Field Mill in this one.
Mansfield Form
So Mansfield landed 12th spot in league One last season with just about average stats wherever you look for them. They posted a W9 D7 L7 record at home last season but goals were a bit scarce at Field Mill with just 35% of all league games played there going over 2.5 goals. The Stags were the lowest scorers of the top 15 finishers in League Two last season, which says a lot, but they twice fought back from being behind in a 2-2 draw out at Crewe last weekend, which will have given them some confidence.
Forest Green Rovers Form
Forest Green Rovers posted a W13 D2 L8 record away from home in the National League last season and they went W3 L3 in their last six away games of the season. Forest Green had a very good season in front of goal last term, outscoring everyone else in the National League with an 88 goal tally for the term. The Gloucestershire side took a 2-0 lead at home against Barnet last weekend but conceded twice in the second half of the match to settle for the draw. Still, it showed that they know where the back of the net is even in a higher division.
Head to Head News
We have had previous meetings between these two, not a whole bunch but some. They have faced each other twelve times before and Mansfield are well up in the head to head with a W7 D2 L3 record against Rovers. Mansfield are on a three match winning streak against them and they have won five of their six previous home games against them as well (L1). Four of those five wins were with a clean sheet. This will be their first meeting since the 2012/13 Blue Square Premier clashes.
Top Betting Tips
Forest Green showed some decent attacking prowess last week which suggests that they could pose a threat in this one. But at the end of the day, you have a situation of a newly promoted side away from home taking on a solid, if unspectacular League Two side. The head to head form is with The Stags and they are value in the match outright to go and throw into an acca or something.