Mansfield Town will look to reignite their playoff push on Tuesday, when they travel to Spotland to take on Rochdale.
Back-to-back defeats have seen the Stags drop to 10th spot in the League Two table, while their hosts sit 19th with the aim of breaking a five-game winless run.
Match preview
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After their relegation from League One last season, Rochdale have not fared much better in England's fourth tier, currently sitting 19th with 10 games left to play.
Although Robbie Stockdale's men are not overly threatened by the drop, with nine points and three teams between themselves and the relegation zone, they will be concerned by their recent form, having failed to win any of their last five outings.
Following important victories over Scunthorpe United and Northampton Town, the Dale suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of Carlisle United and Sutton United before drawing with Barrow and Salford City.
They then made the trip to Leyton Orient last time out, and, despite Alex Newby giving Stockdale's side an early lead, they eventually succumbed to a 3-1 defeat with Paul Smyth, Ruel Sotiriou and Harry Smith getting on the scoresheet.
That saw the Lancashire outfit drop below the O's to 19th spot, and, while they boast a healthy lead over the bottom two, the Dale will still be keen to make a return to winning ways to ensure they do not slip any further.
They take on a Mansfield side desperate to strengthen their position in the race for the playoffs, having recently dropped out of the top seven due to consecutive defeats.
Nigel Clough's side strung an eye-catching run together between late October and early March, picking up 14 wins and three draws from a span of 18 league games to climb into the playoff places seemingly out of nowhere.
The Stags faced a tough challenge in their bid to add to that, travelling to Tranmere Rovers, and, despite Oliver Hawkins seemingly earning them a draw with a late equaliser, they suffered a 95th-minute heartbreak as Elliott Nevitt snatched all three points for the hosts.
Clough's men then met Port Vale in their most recent outing last Tuesday and would suffer a second straight defeat as James Wilson found the net and Kian Harratt hit a brace to overturn a deficit following Rhys Oates's opener and see them leapfrog the Stags with a 3-1 win.
Now five points outside the playoffs, albeit with at least two games in hand on every side above them, the Nottinghamshire outfit will aim to return from the weekend's layoff with a victory to climb back within reach of the top seven.
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Team News
Josh Andrews, Paul Downing and Max Taylor were absent from Rochdale's defeat on Saturday, and they are all set to continue spells on the sidelines.
Stockdale should again deploy a back three of Jimmy Keohane, Eoghan O'Connell and Jeriel Dorsett in the absence of Downing and Taylor.
Alex Newby will keep his place on the right-hand side of the front three after his goal last time out, while experienced forward Matt Done will be vying for a return to the starting XI after making a substitute appearance last time out.
Mansfield Town will likely remain without attacker Lucas Akins, who missed out on the defeat to Port Vale through injury, leaving more attacking responsibility on Rhys Oates, who netted his 10th goal of the season in that match.
Jordan Bowery will be battling to come into the front line, while Jamie Murphy continues to provide a threat from the left-hand side.
Versatile man Oliver Hawkins can play at either end of the pitch but has tended to be deployed in a back four recently given their wealth of attacking options.
Rochdale possible starting lineup:
Lynch; Keohane, O'Connell, Dorsett; O'Keefe, Kelly, Dooley, Clark; Newby, Campbell, Done
Mansfield Town possible starting lineup:
Bishop; Perch, Rawson, Hawkins, McLaughlin; Clarke, Stirk, Lapslie; Oates, Bowery, Murphy
We say: Rochdale 1-2 Mansfield Town
Refreshed from a break at the weekend, we back Mansfield to make a return to winning ways against a struggling Rochdale side on Tuesday.
Despite suffering back-to-back defeats, Clough has plenty of quality in his ranks, and they should have enough to outclass the hosts.
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 Rochdale win with a probability of 37.38%. A win for Mansfield Town had a probability of 35.93% and a draw had a probability of 26.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rochdale win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.08%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.19%) and 2-0 (6.5%). The likeliest Mansfield Town win was 0-1 (9.84%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.69%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 9.8% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted that Mansfield Town would win this match.
