Mansfield Town hoping on George Maris return for tough Exeter City trip

Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough is hoping he could have midfielder George Maris back in time for Saturday's long haul down to in-form Exeter City.
George Maris receives treatment during the match against Oldham Athletic Photo by: Chris Holloway/The Bigger Picture.mediaGeorge Maris receives treatment during the match against Oldham Athletic Photo by: Chris Holloway/The Bigger Picture.media
George Maris receives treatment during the match against Oldham Athletic Photo by: Chris Holloway/The Bigger Picture.media

Maris has been out with concussion, suffered in the home draw with Oldham on 9th October and joined a crippling list of 10 unavailable players.

But Clough was hugely boosted by the return of Stephen Quinn in Tuesday's excellent 1-1 home draw with Port Vale and said Maris was probably the only one off his missing list that could feature at Exeter, who currently sit in the play-off places.

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“George Maris is the most likely. It will probably be a bit too early for Kellan Gordon,” he said.

“If all the protocols are followed and boxes ticked with the concussion for George Maris then he may be available for Saturday.

Striker Rhys Oates is hoping Stags can take Tuesday night's performance into Saturday, saying: “From Tuesday we can take that we can compete against any team in this league.

“Port Vale were the in-form team coming into that game and I think we played them off the park – we out-run and out-worked them. We showed we are capable of beating anyone.

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“It's a long trip but I am pretty sure we'll be fine. We are a fit team since pre-season. We will get ourselves right over the next few days and go on to Saturday.”

Exeter and Mansfield met on Easter Monday last season for their 70th encounter and played out a 0-0 draw, going with the general form.

Games are often tight affairs with just a single goal separating the two sides on no less than 28 occasions.

Exeter have won 26 of the meetings with 23 for Mansfield and 19 drawn.

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The Grecians have won three of the last four meetings with the Stags, though Mansfield would love to replicate 2019’s 4-1 demolition job at the Park and have only lost one of their last four trips there.

While Stags have not won for 13 games, Exeter are unbeaten over 13 games with their 4-1 away win at Crawley Town on Tuesday ending a run of five draws in all competitions.