Mansfield Town ready to go toe to toe with Huddersfield Town

Stags, who lost 2-1 at home to Barnsley last night, are trying to secure safety while Huddersfield, who were beaten 1-0 at Lincoln City, are still aiming for the play-offs - but both have had rollercoaster seasons.

“It is a funny one as if you look at Huddersfield's squad on paper, you'd have thought they would be up there challenging for automatic promotion,” said Stags boss Nigel Clough.

“I know they have changed their manager but they are a team that have suffered the extremes of the season like we have.

“They had an incredible beaten run then couldn't win for a few, but still on paper they have a very good squad.”

He added: “I was talking to some Forest fans the other night and they reminded me of the play-off final three years ago when they said Huddersfield deserved to win.

“You look at it now and Forest are third in the Premier League and in the FA Cup semi-finals and Huddersfield are battling in League One – just on that one game.

“That is how close they were to getting back into the Premier League three years ago.

“So there is probably a hangover from being so close. But it is still a big club and a good club.

“But most of the season we have gone to toe to toe with teams and matched them for large parts of games.

“If we had beaten Barnsley 2-1 on Tuesday no one would have said it was unjust. The least we deserved was a draw.

“So let's have a go at Huddersfield – as we have home and away all season.”

Stags currently have four games in two weeks and Clough said: “We have a busy spell ahead too and we could do with as many of our injured players fit as possible.

“When we get to Easter we are playing Friday/Monday and when we get to the last week of the season we play three in six days with the Birmingham and Peterborough games being moved.”