[themaclad]

We first met these lads in a FA Cup tie in 1949 , the next meeting was 31 years later when Alan Ball Senior was the manager.

LAST MEETING AT DEEPDALE

PRESTON NORTH END 1 MANSFIELD TOWN 0 Auto Windscreen game 27/1/1998

LAST MEETING

MANSFIELD TOWN 0 PRESTON NORTH END 4 League Cup 21/9/2004 in the Town side that night Alex Neil

MACS MEMORIES

This one is an oddity Town played a reserve game at Deepdale early 1990's We on 6-0 in the Town side was Daley Thompson Olympic Decathelete,I know this for a fact I was at the game

The first competitive action of the 2020/21 season gets underway on Saturday – two weeks before the Championship starts – as North End take on Mansfield Town in the first round of the Carabao Cup.
The Lilywhites are two weeks into the preparations for the start of the league campaign, but will hope to be ready for the clash with the Stags, who are playing their first competitive match since they beat now-promoted Northampton Town back in March!

This will mean it is their first experience of the behind closed doors environment, with PNE returning to Deepdale for the first time since they defeated Birmingham City back in mid-July.

Team News
PNE manager Alex Neil has confirmed that he will be without goalkeeper Declan Rudd, who played every minute or every league game in 2018/19, with Connor Ripley and Mathew Hudson competing for the slot between the sticks.

Darnell Fisher is also missing, along with Louis Moult, who is back running outside, but is yet to join his team-mates in full training after a year on the sidelines with an ACL injury suffered at Swansea City in August 2019.

For the visitors, midfielder Ollie Clarke will continue to be assessed in the days leading up to the fixture after a recent calf strain, but defender Joe Riley will miss the game due to an ACL injury suffered in training.

Opposition View
Stags boss Graham Coughlan is looking forward to bringing his side to PR1. Speaking to Mansfield Town’s official website he admitted it would be a new experience – without the supporters – but one they were ready for.

“We can’t wait to get going and we’re looking forward to Saturday,” he began. “It’s been a long, long time [since we’ve played competitively], but we’re getting close to our first competitive game.

“The adrenaline starts to kick in and we can’t wait to get going. You miss that adrenaline rush and the atmosphere.

“Saturday will be different – it will be hard as we won’t have the fans. But there will be a competitive edge, and you do miss that competitive side of the game.

“We’ll give a good account of ourselves [on Saturday] and the lads are looking forward to it. Let’s go, enjoy it, do our best, and see where we are at five o’clock on Saturday.

“Make no mistake, we want to win the game. We’re going down there to try and make a name for ourselves.

“We want to get through it injury-free, but if there’s a tackle to be made, we’ll tackle, if there’s a header to be won, we’ll win it.”

Match Officials
The referee for Saturday's game will be Ross Joyce, with Geoffrey Liddle and Paul Newhouse the assistants and the fourth official will be Simon Mather.

Ross was last the referee of the weekend’s opponents when Mansfield lost at Bradford City back in December 2019, 2-0 at the home of the Bantams.

However, after five years on the EFL lists, this will be his first time officiating the Lilywhites


Opposition fans view

stagsnet.net/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=8