Forest Green Rovers will be aiming to keep the pressure on the top two in League Two when they travel to a struggling Mansfield Town on Tuesday evening.
The hosts are languishing in 16th place with 42 points accrued from 36 matches, while Forest Green occupy third spot and could move level on points with Cambridge United should they prevail this week.
Match preview
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The visit of basement side Grimsby Town provided Mansfield with an ideal opportunity to claim a confidence-boosting win, but despite going in front twice on the day, they were pegged back both times and ultimately forced to settle for a point in a 2-2 draw.
George Maris and Jason Law both found the back of the net for the first time at Mansfield, but Nigel Clough's men allowed Lenell John-Lewis to head home before George Williams came off the bench to rescue a point from the penalty spot in the dying minutes of the match, and the hosting manager lamented his side's inability to kill the game off in the first 45 minutes at Field Mill.
Even though Mansfield can only boast a meagre two wins from their last 12 League Two outings, a chasm of 11 points separates them from the trapdoor, so they should not be in any danger of being dragged into a fight for survival at this stage, and the Stags' home form is certainly cause for optimism before the visit of the promotion-chasers.
In spite of their drab draw with Grimsby, Mansfield have now strung a four-game unbeaten run together on home soil and have only failed to score in one of their last 10 matches at Field Mill - only losing to League One hopefuls Bolton Wanderers and Cambridge in that time - but welcoming another promotion-chasing team in Forest Green to Nottinghamshire will prove to be a true test of their mettle.
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A momentum-killing 1-0 defeat to fellow automatic promotion hopefuls Cambridge has left the door open for Forest Green's adversaries to try to leapfrog them in the coming weeks, as Mark Cooper's men succumbed to a Wes Hoolahan winner at the Abbey Stadium on Saturday.
The U's spurned a magnificent chance to go ahead in the first 20 minutes as Lewis Thomas saved Paul Mullin's spot kick, but former Republic of Ireland international Hoolahan decided the game in the 38th minute to condemn Forest Green to their second defeat in three away matches.
The Green had taken seven points from their previous three fixtures before Saturday's defeat at Cambridge, but with Tranmere Rovers, Bolton and Morecambe all taking advantage of their defeat by claiming three points in their respective fixtures, Forest Green's standing in the top three is far from secure as they gear up for their 36th game of the campaign.
However, Cooper's men are three points behind Cambridge with two games in hand, and four adrift of leaders Cheltenham Town - who have played a game more - so the importance of another victory for Forest Green this weekend cannot be understated, although they have kept clean sheets in just two of their last nine away matches.
Mansfield did manage to take the spoils in a 2-1 victory on Forest Green's turf back in November, but Cooper's side came up trumps in a seven-goal thriller at Field Mill during the 2019-20 campaign.
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Team News
Mansfield substitute Oliver Sarkic was on the field for a grand total of 14 minutes against Grimsby before coming off with a hamstring problem - one which is sure to rule him out of this match.
Clough also revealed after the draw that captain Ollie Clarke sat out in order to recover from knocks, so he should be in with a fighting chance of coming back here, while Stephen Quinn could also earn a recall to the first XI, but George Lapslie is struggling to shake off his injury.
Quinn could potentially replace Harry Charsley in the first XI, and Clough should be able to call upon goalscorer Law after he was on the receiving end of some rough treatment against Grimsby.
Forest Green will welcome Elliott Whitehouse back from suspension after his sending off against Harrogate Town on March 13, and he is in contention to replace Scott Wagstaff in the middle of the park.
Cooper conceded that Ebou Adams and Jordan Moore-Taylor were both still in the treatment room before the Cambridge defeat, and neither player is likely to return for this one, while Dan Sweeney and Josh March are long-term absentees.
The visiting manager believed that his side were "miles better" after a half-time tactical switch against Cambridge, so Odin Bailey in particular will certainly hope to earn a starting role at Field Mill.
Mansfield Town possible starting lineup:
Stone; Gordon, Perch, Sweeney, Benning; Quinn, Maris, Clarke; Law; Bowery, Reid
Forest Green Rovers possible starting lineup:
Thomas; Stokes, Cargill, Godwin-Malife; Wilson, Bernard, Whitehouse, Cadden; Bailey; Collins, Matt
We say: Mansfield Town 0-1 Forest Green Rovers
Mansfield ought to be encouraged by their recent home results before the visit of Forest Green, but throwing two points away in calamitous fashion against the league's basement side at the weekend would hardly have done their confidence any good. The visitors did not enjoy an ideal afternoon in their most recent outing, but Cooper should have an idea of how to come out on top in this game after his half-time alterations nearly paid dividends against Cambridge, so we are backing a narrow away win on Tuesday night.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Forest Green Rovers win with a probability of 37.4%. A win for Mansfield Town had a probability of 35.79% and a draw had a probability of 26.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Forest Green Rovers win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.2%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.17%) and 0-2 (6.54%). The likeliest Mansfield Town win was 1-0 (9.93%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.74%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 8% likelihood.
