Faultless Mansfield Town will force Bristol Rovers to be at their best after patience proves to be a virtue

Mansfield Town are the opponents of Bristol Rovers today as they make the trip down to the Memorial Stadium in another Sky Bet League Two fixture.

Nigel Clough brings his side down on a good run of form at the minute and today’s match could be a difficult one given the quality of the opposition.

The Stags are currently fifth in League Two and there are a whole 11 points separating both them and Rovers, so Joey Barton’s team will have to be at their best today if they are to secure maximum points.

Mansfield are ultimately where Rovers want to be come the end of the season as they currently occupy one of the play-off spots, which at the start of the season was an aim.

They though were in a similar position to Rovers in the earlier parts of the season with a long winless run but after finding inspiration from somewhere, they are now a promotion contender.

To get the inside track of what to expect from Mansfield Town, we spoke to John Lomas, the long-serving editor of the Mansfield Chad, who has seen more than 30 years of the club.

Key player

Veteran Irish international midfielder Stephen Quinn has been the Stags’ overall key player of the season and at 35 still plays with the speed and enthusiasm of a teenager – a real life Peter Pan!

But he is quickly being usurped by electrifying striker Rhys Oates.

He was Hartlepool United’s Player of the Year when gaining promotion last year and they were gutted to lose him to Mansfield.

He is a human dynamo, chasing lost causes and putting defenders under intense pressure for 90 minutes.

Oates recently ran from his own penalty area all the way to the other to win a penalty kick.

He then surpassed that on Tuesday, taking the ball from his own half on the break, beating three opponents and smashing home from 25 yards.

Strengths

A rollercoaster season saw them start out looking every bit the promotion winners the bookies had tipped them to be in the summer. But as injury, illness and suspension bit hard with 11 players missing at one stage, Stags went on to a barren 14 game run without a win though were never blown away by anyone.

Clough and the club remained calm and said once players returned so would results - and so it proved.

A club record eight successive league wins has been at the heart of a run of 10 league games unbeaten and an astonishing 12 wins and a draw from the last 14 games.

They ooze confidence right now and rightly so.

The January window was one of their best ever with Burton hitman Lucas Akins, Newcastle starlet Matty Longstaff, Scottish veteran star Jamie Murphy, and utility men John-Joe O’Toole and Keiran Wallace signing.

Stags do play a fast high-pressing game both home and away – they are never cautious for a draw – and play some good football along the way through the addition of Akins gives them the chance to play a longer game to a target man too.

Their biggest handicap to sustaining a promotion surge is that, due to postponements, 12 of their remaining 18 games are away. So if they are to achieve glory it will have to be done the hard way. They have won their last nine home games.

Weaknesses?

It has to be said Stags are not really displaying any real weaknesses right now.

They did have some poor defensive lapses during the 14 game run without a win but with seven club centre halves out at one stage there were reasons for it.

Rovers need to start on the front foot or they will soon find themselves under a lot of pressure.

Team news?

The only real worry for Saturday is attacking right back Stephen McLaughlin who was taken off in a ‘concussion substitution’ as a precaution after a bang on the head on Tuesday.

He would be a huge miss as his contribution going forward has been immense. But Stags say it wasn’t deemed concussion in the end and he should be fine.

Defender Kellan Gordon is a long term absentee and midfield ace George Lapslie will be another two or three weeks, but such is the wealth of choice in midfield he won’t be missed.

Clough was desperate to get Longstaff on for a debut on Tuesday but Colchester simply wouldn’t lay down at 1-0 and he was unable.

Clough has slimmed his squad right down for the final push to avoid unhappy players in the stands but with so many midweek games to come says he will rotate the nucleus key 18 and make full use of everyone.

Veteran James Perch, who suffered a fractured skull in a freak training ground accident in September, was expected to be out at least the rest of the season.

But he has been given the all-clear by the specialist and he was on the bench for the Leyton Orient and Harrogate games, coming on in both to big cheers, though missed out on the 18 on Tuesday.