[Lord Snooty]

Huddersfield Town welcome Mansfield Town to the 53 Acres Stadium on Tuesday night for the third game in our Vertu Trophy campaign. We go into this game on the back of five (count 'em Bernie), FIVE straight defeats in all competitions. Starting with that terrible performance in this competition, the horror show at Harrogate, which was followed by an abysmal home defeat at home to ten man Stockport County. Then came that minute of madness on a Thursday night at home to the Trotters in which we managed to turn a 1-0 win into a 2-1 loss. Alfie May then went and got himself sent off down at Wycombe. He will be available for selection in this Vertu game though, unlike the FA Cup game at the Toughsheet, which became our fifth consecutive loss.

If that becomes six straight defeats, it will be the end of our Vertu campaign. A win will take us through. If we draw, that's when it becomes complicated. We get one point each and then take a penalty shoot out for a bonus point. Whatever the result of the shoot out, Mansfield will be out. We however, will have to wait for the Harrogate v Newcastle result next week. The Geordie kids could win and knock us out if we lose the shoot out and finish the group stage on 4 points. If we win on pens, that'd give us 5 points and a much better goal difference than the young uns because of our 6-2 win over them.

Let's just win and forget all that.

If the Stags win, they will have to wait and see if the Toon Teens win at Harrogate next week. A Harrogate win would see Mansfield through.

Tickets:

Riverside Stand Lower Tier only:

Adults - £10
Under 18s - £5



Mansfield Town in the EFL Trophy: They were in it from the start when it was known as the Associate Menbers Cup in 1983/84. It was a straight knock out tournament in the beginning, with just teams from the 3rd and 4th Divisions. They lost in the first round at home to Darlington.

But in the next season, 84/85, they got as far as the Northern Area Final. After beating Hull City on aggregate in a two legged first round, they beat Bradford City away in round two before defeating Burnley on pens at Field Mill in the quarter finals. In the semis, they were drawn to play Bolton Wanderers at Burnden Park, which they won 2-1. Then in the area final, they got a home draw against Wigan Athletic. That finished 1-1, but they lost on penalties.

A couple of seasons later, under the management of former Huddersfield boss Ian Greaves (pictured), they got to Wembley and won it. After topping a group with Halifax Town and Rotherham United, they then beat York City, Bury and Middlesbrough to get to the area final. In that final, they beat Chester City 2-1 on aggregate to reach the Wembley Final against Bristol City. Kevin Kent gave the Stags a lead in the second half, but the Robins equalised shortly before full time. No more goals in extra time meant that the match went to a penalty shoot out. It was 4-4 after each team had taken five penalties, then up stepped Scottish centre back David Moyes. He misssed, leaving ex Sheffield United skipper Tony Kenworthy to fire home the winner.

Due to their geographical location, they have fluctuated between being a Northern section team and a Southern one, depending on the make up of the two lower leagues. Over the next twenty years, they made the Quarter Finals (North) four times and the Quarter Finals (South) once. But then in 2008, they got relegated to the Conference and missed out on five seasons of playing in this magnificent competition, before making a triumphant return by winning the Conference in 2013.

They fell at the first hurdle, in what was a straight knock out competition in 2013/14, by getting beaten at home by local rivals, Chesterfield.

And in the next eleven seasons they continued to struggle to make progress, only making one Quarter Final. That was in 2016/17 when the competition was rebranded as the Checkatrade Trophy and Premier League Academy sides were invited in. Mansfield were almost embarrassed by the Derby County kids in what was the final game in their group. Needing a win to progress to the next round, the Stags raced into a two goal lead in the first five minutes, but were pegged back to two all in the 84th minute. Their blushes were spared in the 3rd minute of added on time by Chris Clements bagging the winner.

They won at Carlisle in the 2nd round, beat Oldham at home in the next, but then lost at Oxford in the Quarters.

Last season, they were knocked out in the group stage, losing out to Rotherham United and Bradford City, with their only success being a win against the Newcastle United u21s.



Northern Group F:
Sep 2: Town 6-2 Newcastle u21
Sep 9: Mansfield 0-1 Harrogate
Sep 30 Harrogate 1-0 Town
Oct 15 Mansfield 2-2 (3-5 pens) Newcastle u21
Nov 4: Town v Mansfield
Nov 11: Harrogate v Newcastle u21