Mansfield Town vs Notts County: The history of the Nottinghamshire Derby
Mansfield Town will face local rivals Notts County once more next season following their promotion from League Two.
The Magpies secured the final spot in League One for the 2026/27 season after their triumph in the play-offs.
County saw off Chesterfield Town in the semi-finals before dominating Salford City at Wembley to return to England’s third tier after 11 years away.
Mansfield Town last faced their Nottinghamshire opponents in 2024, when they were battling it out in League Two. Stags finished third in the division that year after losing just eight games from 46 in the season, clinching their historic promotion under Nigel Clough.
Now, the local derby will return to Stags’ calendar as Notts County join them for a highly anticipated upcoming season. Here’s how the history between the two sides has played out so far – from the very beginning to the modern day rivalry between Field Mill and Meadow Lane.
Mansfield Town vs Notts County first meetings
Stags first faced Notts County all the way back in 1937 in the Football League Third Division South. It wasn’t a successful introduction to the clash for Mansfield as they lost both fixtures that season. While the archive of results between these two rivals contains close margins, Stags hold the edge with 22 wins to County’s 19.
After playing each other in back-to-back seasons – Mansfield Town won and drew in 1938 and 1939 respectively – the two teams met mostly on a more sporadic basis moving forwards.
When association football returned after the Second World War, the rivals faced off in 1946 and 1947, with Stags winning 1-0 in the first instance but falling to a hefty 5-1 defeat afterwards. They wouldn’t meet again until 1958, after which Mansfield Town won three on the bounce.
Between 1963 and 1978, Mansfield Town and Notts County played each other just eight times, and Stags won only two of those fixtures.
Mansfield Town vs Notts County Freight Rover match-up
Another lengthy spell kept the two Nottinghamshire teams apart and fans had to wait eight years for another derby day clash. Upon their reunion, Mansfield Town beat Notts County twice in the 1985/86 Freight Rover Trophy. Stags reached the quarter-finals – where they were knocked out by Darlington – but went on to lift the Cup the following year.
The teams met consistently during the four years that followed. They played each other 11 times between December 1986 and May 1990, and it was a positive streak for the Magpies, losing just once throughout the run. Stags’ only win came in 1988 in the League Cup, losing and drawing five each of the other ten games.
A losing streak for Mansfield Town
February 1989 marked the start of a frustrating record against Notts County. Mansfield Town’s 2-1 loss in the Third Division triggered a run of six straight derby defeats across an 11-year period. Two notable matches included the 4-2 scoreline at Meadow Lane, and Stags’ 4-3 Field Mill defeat in the League Cup.
It was a scorcher of a first half as six of the seven goals came quickly. Mansfield took the lead through Chris Greenacre Pies responded with all four of their goals – including an 11-minute hat-trick from Danny Allsopp. Steve Mildenhall netted County’s fourth and Greenacre struck again to give Stags some hope. Andy White added another for the home side but it would prove to be a mere consolation goal at full-time.
Stags shake off losing streak
As the noughties era unfolded, Mansfield Town enjoyed getting back on their feet when it came to derby day performances. Putting their losing streak behind them, Stags lost just once between 2002 and 2008, during which time the Nottinghamshire rivals met ten times.
Mansfield Town were promoted in 2002, joining Notts County in Division Two for the 2002/03 season. Stags were relegated after just one term and the Magpies followed a similar path a year later as both teams finished second from bottom in their respective relegation campaigns.
The drops set up Division Three football between the two sides once more and they faced each other consistently for four years before Mansfield were relegated to the Conference League.
Latest Nottinghamshire Derby results
Another period of separation kept the two sides apart between 2008 and 2014, before a meeting in the then Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. Notts County knocked Stags out in the first round and made it to the semi-finals, where they fell 1-0 to Preston North End.
Mansfield Town lost again to their derby rivals in the Trophy the following year, before the Pies were dramatically dumped from the competition at the hand’s of a 5-1 defeat to Sheffield United.
Since then, ten Nottinghamshire Derbies have been played and Stags have lost on just one occasion, which came in 2019 during their League Two clash at Meadow Lane. During the 2018/19 season, Mansfield took bragging rights from the first derby clash thanks to a Christopher Hamilton brace. Pies edged the second meeting 1-0 on their turf courtesy of Craig Mackail-Smith’s goal.
The most recent fixtures were both successful days out for Clough’s side during their League Two promotion campaign. In October 2023, County took an early lead in Nottingham but goals from Louis Reed, Baily Cargill, Aden Flint and Lucas Akins gave Stags a 4-1 win to celebrate on the short trip back home.
They secured the double over the Pies in February 2024 after Davis Kellior-Dunn’s eighth-minute goal completed the six-pointer at the One Call Stadium.