LOMAS ON STAGS: Adding Oates to the mix will beef up Mansfield Town's promotion challenge

To lose him for three months of this season after his displays last season has been a huge blow to the club’s ambitions.

But he is back earlier than planned with more than half a season to go and, despite hiccups here and there, Mansfield have largely managed to keep the pace with the promotion pack and go into the weekend a single place and point outside the play-off places.

Boss Nigel Clough again reiterated this week that he does not intend to do much business in January as he is convinced he already has what he needs in the building if all fit.

That certainly includes the magic that Oates can conjure in a game. Who plays up there with him is another matter.

I would still love to see Oli Hawkins back up there. He is a towering, hard-to-outjump giant whose goalscoring record when played up front is excellent and his ability to win aerial battles invaluable.

But he has become a mainstay of the defence this season.

Will Swan and Lucas Akins have had turns up there with varying degrees of success while George Lapslie, playing just behind a lone frontman, has worked wonders with his goals and energy.

It will certainly be good to get football back at the One Call on Saturday after a spell of five successive away games.

In the meantime it has been hard to believe there is a World Cup happening.

There are few, if any, flags being flown out of people’s windows or on cars and the atmosphere at pub games has been much more muted than usual.

But the tournament has thrown up some classic encounters with those early defeats for Argentina and Germany definitely going into the annals of the competition’s history.

What has annoyed is the new glut of match stats someone has dreamt up.

As an ice hockey fan I was relaxed when assists appeared alongside goals and the usual shots on and off target and the like. But ‘expected goals’ drives me mad and I have absolutely no idea – or interest – what three or four of the new ones on the World Cup games mean! It is the ‘simple game’ no more.