Nigel Clough warns 'relentless' Bradford City will be a 'big test' for Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town fans will be hoping for a repeat of their last result against Bradford City but Nigel Clough has warned they are a ‘different side’ when playing at home.
The Stags boss is heading into tonight’s clash prepared to face a different beast compared to the previous meeting this season. Bantams were sent home licking their wounds after suffering a 3-0 defeat at the One Call Stadium on New Year’s Day, despite winning five of their previous six games.
A Lucas Akins goal and a Rhys Oates brace secured a big three points at the start of the year, marking Mansfield Town’s joint-biggest winning margin this season so far.
Stags are unbeaten in their last four League One matches and are climbing steadily towards the 50-point mark. However, they will enter today’s match at Valley Parade cautious of the damage Bradford City can inflict on home soil.
“They’re relentless in what they do and are scoring an awful lot of late goals, so it’s going to be a big test for us,” Clough said ahead of the clash. “They are a different side at home, their home record is very good indeed, they’ve hardly lost at home this season. So that’s going to be the test for us and also, what they haven’t done very often is lost back-to-back. So having lost to Wigan on Saturday, they’ll be looking to bounce back straight away.”
Graham Alexander’s side have dropped points at home on just four occasions so far this season – with two draws and two defeats on the board at Valley Parade. Bantams are fighting for promotion to the Championship and are currently sitting nicely in the play-off bracket in fourth place, with an eight-point buffer between them and seventh-placed Stockport County.
Nigel Clough on busy Mansfield Town schedule
Stags have a busy run between now and the end of the season as they prioritise banking as many points as possible to secure safety. Clough is also managing several injuries to the likes of Luke Bolton, Baily Cargill, George Maris and Tyler Roberts.
“There’s not a lot of training going on, apart from the lads who aren’t playing much who need topping up. The rest of them are just resting and recovering between games,” the manager said ahead of the clash with Bradford.
“We’re not looking too bad for the rest of this month but when we get into April, we could be looking at 18 in 25 days, or something like that. So it’s going to be a tough run-in, which makes the next three games extremely important for us.
“We’re juggling it as best we can, but we’ve got one or two players who have got issues and can’t play Saturday then Tuesday, or Tuesday then Saturday, so that’s why you see the changes. It’d be lovely to play the same team, honestly, but it’s just not possible. It’s impractical to expect the players to play that many games. Especially given how important the games are.”