Match Preview: Mansfield Town v Aston Villa

Who are we playing?
Mansfield Town, Thursday July 17 - 7.45pm

Where are we playing?
Mansfield Town Football Club
One Call Stadium (aka Field Mill)
Quarry Lane
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire
NG18 5DA



Can I go?
Allocation: 1,788
Prices: £10 [adults], £5 [O65s], £5 [U16s], Free [U6s]

On general sale 

Easy to get to?
If you like going on the train, not really, as getting back doesn't look feasible. Best bet is probably the coach unless you fancy driving.

Leave the M1 at Junction 28, take A38 to Mansfield and after 6.5 miles turn right at the crossroads into Belvedere St, then turn right into Quarry Lane.

Jayne Mansfield

Can I watch it on telly?
Live on AVTV.

Villa attempted to screen the 2013 pre season friendlies that took place on British soil (and the one in Ireland) live on AVTV with mixed results...

Big game?
There will certainly be plenty of interest. Fans will be expecting to see Joe Cole in action for sure, while there will be plenty of interest in seeing if the bomb squad that were excluded from pre-season last term can get a look in this time.

We'd certainly expect to see the see some of the young guns like Jack Grealish and Janoi Donacien to get a run out at some stage but we'll just have to wait and see.

We wouldn't be surprised at all if the entire team is subbed at half time to give as many as possible a run out.

Do Mansfield have any famous fans?
Closest thing we can find to a celebrity fan is Olympic Decathlete Daley Thompson who was briefly on Mansfield's books at the tender age of 37.

@villamadtweets in your match preview it says do @mansfieldtownfc have any famous fans yes they do @CharlieSlater15 the bbc #weatherman !
— Barry dunn (@dunn_pdunn1) July 8, 2014

@villamadtweets @dunn_pdunn1 touched as I am guys, really! I'm not a Mansfield fan. I just report on them for the BBC
— Charlie Slater (@CharlieSlater15) July 8, 2014

Who's playing for us?
Probably everyone, though the World Cup lads are unlikely to feature.

Of more interest than the personnel will be the formation and we'll be looking for early signs of Roy Keane's input having an impact on the play.

Who's playing for them?
No idea and even if we did, you've probably never heard of them. We haven't.

No doubt though that whoever they are, they'll well up for playing against the Villa and keen to impress to ensure they get a start in the league so they'll give us a workout.

Stats suggest they can get a wee bit physical so we'll just be praying no one important gets clogged.

Any useless stats?

Of course you can Malcolm

Of course, here you go:

• We have NEVER beaten Mansfield Town in four attempts, all in a less than two year period between August 1970 and April 1972 and all in Division Three.

• Malcolm Partridge silenced Villa Park with a 58th minute winner as Mansfield won 1-0 in our first ever encounter on August Bank Holiday Monday 1970.

• The Stags stunned Villa again in the return game at Field Mill in April 1971, trotting out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Roberts and Thompson

• Our solitary point against Mansfield Town came in April 1972 and was enough to ensure promotion to Division Two. Geoff Vowden put us ahead but a last gasp Mansfield equaliser stopped us clinching the Championship.

Prediction
This will be more of training run out than a game but we should emerge victorious. Going for a 3-1 Villa win.