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Stags to face Premiership side in FA Cup



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Published Date: 07 January 2008
Email Tim Morriss

MANSFIELD Town have been drawn at home to Premiership strugglers Middlesbrough in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup.
It is a fine reward for Saturday's surprise 2-1 win at League One Brighton on Saturday, which left the Stags as the lowest ranked club definitely through to the Fourth Round.

And it is being seen as one of few possible ties, if not the only tie, which keeps alive the romance of the famous old competition - a side 23rd in League Two against a club struggling at 15th in the top division.

The Stags, struggling at the foot of League Two and without an away League win all season, will meet Boro over the weekend of Saturday 26th January after the cup draw on Monday lunchtime - leading to the postponement of their League fixture at Stockport.

"I don't care what anyone says, it is a tremendous draw at home against a Premiership side," said manager Billy Dearden.

"More than anything though I am delighted for our supporters who have had two bad away trips in the last two rounds and got soaked through at both of them. This is their reward for their support in those games.

"Middlesbrough won't relish coming here. Looking at the sides, we have no chance against them as would be the same against any Premiership club. But this is the FA Cup and we will give it our best shot to cause an upset."

"But we have to put it to one side now and not be distracted from our position next to bottom of the league.

"We don't want to be there. We want to be away from the bottom, as our supporters do and we have got to do something about it.

"A Cup draw like this could keep things bubbling or go the other way for us. I don't want to talk about Middlesbrough again now until we prepare for the game in the week leading up to it."

Boro boss Gareth Southgate, the former England international, said: "There are no easy games in the Cup, especially away from home, so we will treat Mansfield with the greatest respect."

There is a good chance that the match will be featured live on TV, as was the Stags' Second Round clash at non league Harrogate Railway, as it is the only real potential giantkilling tie.

However, the Stags will have to wait a week to find out if the tie is to be shown live either on the BBC or Sky. On Monday evening the FA revealed that although the BBC will show the Wiagan v Chelsea match on the Saturday evening, the other three live matches will not be selected until after next week's replays.

If it is shown live on TV, the Stags will be handed a bumper £150,000 windfall. If the match is shown as part of a highlights package, they will receive £18,000.

  • Will cup run hold transfer window key?


This will be added to the estimated £200,000 the club has received so far for its terrific run to the Fourth Round.

And should Town defeat Boro, they would receive a further £60,000 in prizemoney.

And the club will further benefit financially from a full house at Field Mill, which currently has a restricted capacity.

  • Field Mill capacity raised slightly


Problems with a turnstile, coupled with previous stewarding issues, have left the capacity cut to just over 50%, 5,064.

But new chief executive Stephen Booth said the club would be redoubling its efforts to get the restriction at Field Mill lifted.

He told Chad: "James (Derry) is now the licence holder and he will be meeting with Nottinghamshire County Council to ensure that everything is in order for them to be able to raise the capacity back to 100%."

The rogue West Stand turnstile issue, which had previously led to the reduction from the council's Safety Advisory Group (SAG), has been addressed and the main SAG concern is now over the club's committment to health and safety.

Mr Booth added: "The council has been very complimentary about Les Norman, who is in charge of health and safety matters. As far as I am aware their primary issue now is with the training of matchday stewards, which Les has put a lot of effort into."

If the capacity is lifted, Mr Booth is convinced that Boro will sell out their allocation of around 2,000 tickets for the North Stand.

He added that it would then be upto Stags fans to ensure a full 9,000 house and fill the remainder of Field Mill.

And he ruled out increasing the Boro ticket allocation to include part of the West Stand, saying that he believed the police, and health and safety officials, would not allow it even if the Stags wanted to.

Mr Booth repeated his warning to Chad yesterday that while the cup run is a 'wonderful bonus' to help him stabilise the day-to-day financial running of the club, it does not solve the problems of the lack of income through the club's low League position, low attendances and poor commercial revenue.

But he added that a proportion of the money made from the Fourth Round tie would be made available to manager Billy Dearden in his quest for new players this month .

"I would be prepared to speculate and give some of the money to the manager ahead of the tie, as the match itself is only just before the transfer window closes," he told Chad.

Boro are struggling in the Premiership and will not relish a trip to a League two side.

One of the most famous previous meetings between the two sides was in 1966 at Field Mill when the Stags lost a nine-goal thriller 4-5. In the same season the Stags knocked Boro out of the FA Cup in the Third Round in front of 17,332 at Field Mill, before losing 4-0 at Sheffield Wednesday in the Fourth Round.

The clubs have rarely met over the years and aside from the 1966-67 League and FA Cup clashes, there other matches came in the 1985-86 season in the League Cup (4-4 at Ayresone Park and 2-0 at Field Mill) and a season later in the old Division 3 (1-0 to the Boro at Ayresome Park and 1-1 at Field Mill).

But perhaps the best cherished result between the two sides came in 1987 on the Stags' famous run to Wembley in the Freight Rover Trophy final.

On 11th March at Middlesbrough in the Northern Area Semi Final, Mark Kearney struck the only goal in front of 11,754 fans.




The full article contains 1149 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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  • Last Updated: 10 January 2008 12:28 PM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Mansfield
 
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1

dot,

07/01/2008 21:52:34
c'mon Stags, we can win this! But let's win a few League games too, please!
2

stag67,

Blidworth 08/01/2008 08:59:56
Come on Mr. Haslam give Billy Dearden some urgent cash for new players from the cup run or we are doomed to be a non league club.
3

JBSTL,

Mansfield 08/01/2008 09:18:06
Stags, the only team with the potential to win the FA Cup and be relegated from the league in the same season. Seriously though, any player declining an offer to come and play for the club on account of the league position should perhaps reconsider given the spirit against the odds at Brighton on Saturday.
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