ONE local lad wishing for Mansfield Town to succeed in their battle to get back into the Football League is Derby County's new star signing Kris Commons.
And the Mansfield-born player, who has just joined the Rams from local rivals Nottingham Forest, told Chad he never expected his first ever game on Field Mill would be his debut for Derby County on Saturday.
"I really never thought that would happen," said. "The last time I was on the Field Mill pitch was when I was 11 years old and a mascot. So it was lovely to get out there and play on the pitch.
"I have not trained for the past couple of weeks as I've had hamstring problems. So it was good to get 45 minutes under my belt.
"Coming from here I have always kept my eye on how Mansfield are doing. I can remember when I was at Stoke and there was speculation that Chris Greenacre was coming there.
"Down the years I have paid to come in and watch the Stags. So it was gutting when they went down, especially for me and James Perch at Forest who is also from here. We always looked out for their results.
"It's a shame they have lost players like Alex John-Baptiste and Jake Buxton as they could have made a difference in getting back up.
"It is going to be a struggle for them but I want them to succeed without a doubt."
Commons made a real difference to Derby in his second half display as they came from 2-1 down at the break to win 3-2 at Field Mill yesterday.
