Match Preview

The Match Background

After enjoying a midweek break the Greens return to action on Saturday afternoon with the intention of quickly avenging last weekend’s last-gasp heartache at Newark & Sherwood United. Having led much of the contest, the Greens were pegged back in the 93rd minute by an opportunistic Jamie Williamson as the Highwaymen stole a point that they will feel was merited on the balance of play. Player/Manager Tom Ward took the philosophical approach in his post-match interview, suggesting the Greens also felt a point was the right result, if a little frustrating in the manner in which they conceded the equaliser. For the Greens though, there will be little better opportunity to put things right than with a visit of one of Premier Division North’s struggling sides. Now on a run of four straight league defeats, AFC Mansfield arrive in Lincolnshire looking for a shot in the arm. They have conceded sixteen goals in that period without reply including back-to-back 6-0 hammerings at the hands of Lincoln United and Melton Town. They will be thankful then for a nine-point cushion over the bottom two in Premier Division North as they enter their final five games of the league campaign. With a trio of new signings set for home debuts the Greens will hope to capitalise on that feel-good factor as they continue an unlikely push into play-off contention, but in a league where anyone beats anyone, AFC Mansfield will have plans of their own to find a return to winning ways.

Team News

Player/Manager’s Tom Ward and Nathan Arnold will welcome back club captain Charlie Ward from suspension after he sat out the Greens last two games at Deeping Rangers and at Newark & Sherwood United because of an accumulation of yellow cards. Tom Ward himself had been due back from suspension also after the red card he picked up against Ashby Ivanhoe, but the postponement a fortnight ago of the derby with Boston Town has extended his absence into this weekend. Ward will check on the fitness of both Kyle Watkins and Lewis Daff who are fighting knee and hamstring problems respectively, with Daff withdrawn from action early last weekend at Station Road. Their potential absences could see a second start for new signing Eli Christie in the centre of the park while fellow new men Tom Waumsley and Kyle Simpson – who joined this week from Gainsborough Trinity – could form part of a ‘new look’ Greens forward line this weekend.

The Opposition

Such is the pace of life in the United Counties League Premier Division North is scarcely feels five minutes since the Greens were walking out alongside the Bulls at the Forest Town Arena on the opening day of the season. The reality is that was over eight months ago now and both sides will agree that it has not been the season that either of them had hoped for. A 2-0 win that day seemed to have the Greens on a path to glory while the Bulls optimism of an improved campaign after last seasons debacle took an immediate hit and now, with just five games remaining, the two sides sit at either end of the mid-table pack in Premier Division North.

A 2-0 defeat last time out to Boston Town has compounded a horrendous run of form for the Bulls as their season peters out in frustrating fashion. Now winless in four stretching back to the beginning of February, the Bulls arrive in Lincolnshire desperate to turn the tide. Two consecutive 6-0 defeats at the hands of Lincoln United and Melton Town were bad enough but they’ve since been added to by a pair of 2-0 defeats making it sixteen goals conceded without reply. Their last previous win though – towards the end of January at Newark & Sherwood United – proved curtains for Jonathan D’Laryea as the Highwaymen’s manager and is a stark reminder to the Greens that the Bulls do possess the ability to shake things up.

If the Bulls are to end their campaign with a flurry, they will be looking towards the goals of Kaylum Mitchell to make it happen. He is the clubs clear top-scorer this campaign with twelve goals, the only player across the Bulls squad to reach double figures. He is followed in the scoring charts by vital cog and long-serving McKenna Parton who has eight for the campaign. There has been plenty of links between the two sides this season too with Anraj Bath and Matt McBride enjoying spells at the Forest Town Arena while Ollie Skinner is a current part of the Bulls side having joined from Asfordby FC.

In a far more comfortable position than this time last year – they avoided relegation by two points – the Bulls will be thankful to a mid-season run which saw them win four of their seven victories overall in the space of the couple of months prior to Christmas. That run allowed a cushion to be placed between themselves and marooned Hucknall Town and Pinchbeck United with nine points now the gap. With that said though the Bulls have pulled some rabbits out of the hat this year, most notably at Loughborough Students where they won 2-1, so the Greens must be wary and avoid complacency.

Previous Meetings

The Greens and the Bulls share an identical record across four games overall with two wins apiece. The Greens were 2-0 victors on the opening day of this season at the Forest Town Arena with goals from Charlie Ward and Finlay Armond securing the Greens a comfortable triumph in front of just sixty-three spectators in Nottinghamshire. That came off the back of another Greens win towards the end of the 2022/23 campaign as goals from Charlie Ward, Joe Smith, Akeel Francis, and Jacob Fenton secured the hosts another comfortable triumph at Eslaforde Park in front of 147 fans.

That was perfect payback for what had been a low point of the Greens campaign back in November when they were beaten 2-1 by the Bulls on a difficult surface at the Forest Town Arena. The Nottinghamshire side had won just one game up to that point and were beginning to be cut adrift at the bottom but goals from Brontae Wint and Kamani Wilson were enough to cancel out Ryan Rushen’s first half leveller, with Akeel Francis also seeing an early red card in front of just forty fans. The prior meeting to that arrived in early 2019 when the then step four Bulls demolished the Greens 7-0 in an FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie.

The Match Details

Admission to The MKM Ground on Saturday afternoon is priced at £7 for adults and £4 for concessions with under-sixteen’s free (alongside a paying adult). There is also a military discount available when showing the relative documentation for £5. We can accept both cash and card at the turnstiles and at the bar and snack bar which will be open throughout the game. Copies of our matchday programme the ‘Green Army’ will be available once again with copies priced at £1.50 each on the turnstiles and featuring an interview this week with physio Marc Priestley. Saturday’s match referee is Guy Owen, and he is assisted on the day by James Rees and Shaun Grey. Kick-off at the MKM Ground is scheduled for 3.00PM.

Words; Oliver Atkin