Colin Calderwood praises ‘special’ Mansfield Town as Northampton gear up for must-win clash
Colin Calderwood says he always enjoys returning to Mansfield Town, where his playing career started back in the 1980s.
The 61-year-old will revisit his old stomping ground on Saturday when Northampton Town make the trip to the One Call Stadium. Calderwood, who is the technical director for the Cobblers, was placed in charge on an interim basis earlier this month following the sacking of Kevin Nolan.
Northampton are next-to-bottom in the League One table and have entered crunch time in their efforts to avoid relegation this season. They are currently six points adrift of safety and Calderwood knows a win over his old side would be huge for Cobblers’ survival endeavours.
Northampton are winless since they beat Stevenage 3-1 on February 2nd and they have lost six of their last eight games. Meanwhile, Stags extended their unbeaten run after picking up a hard-fought point against promotion candidates Bradford City during their midweek trip to West Yorkshire.
“They obviously had a very good Cup run, which brought them to the forefront of everyone's minds around the country,” Calderwood said ahead of his side’s meeting with Stags.
“Mansfield's a special place for me because that's where I began my career as an apprentice many, many years ago so I always enjoy going back there.”
Calderwood made 100 appearances for Mansfield Town during his three-year stint at the club between 1982 and 1985. Despite being born in Scotland, the former defender always played in England and ended his career following brief stints with Notts County and Nottingham Forest in 2001.
Having played plenty of games in front of Stags fans, Calderwood is well aware of the support the home crowd provides for the players. But the Cobblers are desperate for points and despite Mansfield being a place of positive memories for the interim boss, his focus is on pushing for three points on the road. “The crowd get right behind them in a really strong way and it's normally a good atmosphere but we have to challenge them in the best way we can and see if we can start to grab something that can give us a step ladder towards safety. We're running out of games but this would be a good one to win because it would give the teams above us a few butterflies about what we might be capable of.”