We welcome Mansfield Town on Tuesday evening to begin a busy February period that brings eight fixtures during the month, including three over the coming week at The Envirovent Stadium.
And Simon Weaver's side will be hoping to use the run of games to put together a run of form to propel them back towards the top end of the table.
Our opponents
Mansfield come into the game as the red hot team in the division, winning eight straight and 11 of their past 12 to fire them in sixth-place and just three points off the automatic spots.
The majority of their points have come on home soil however, with their record on the road seeing them take 11 points from 10 games, although their three victories have come in their last four games.
Previous meetings
Town will be hoping to replicate the results from earlier in the season when they welcome the Stags tomorrow evening.
The two sides have met twice already – once in the league and once in the cup – with Town running out 3-1 winners on both occasions.
At Field Mill back in early September goals from Luke Armstrong, Jack Muldoon and George Thomson cancelled out Rhys Oates early opener in a game that saw Mansfield reduced to nine-men, whilst in the Papa John's Trophy four days earlier a Danilo Orsi hat-trick helped Town on their way to progression through the group stages of the competition.
The man in charge
Nigel Clough is the man in charge at Field Mill. After a stellar playing career for Nottingham Forest and latterly Liverpool, Manchester City and Burton Albion, as well as earning 14 England caps.
After hanging up his boots he went into management taking Burton Albion through the divisions over the course of a decade before following his father's path by taking the Derby County job where he is in the hot seat for four years. A brief spell at Sheffield United then followed before a return to Burton Albion.
Clough took over at Mansfield midway through the 2020/21 season and has posted a win record of 44 in his tenure to date.
Ones to watch
After stabilising the side towards the end of the 2020/21 season Clough brought in a number of new faces in the summer, notably from his former club Burton Albion whom he added midfielders Stephen Quinn and John-Joe O'Toole from.
Also added were Danny Johnson from Leyton Orient and last season's top scorer for the O's has netted four times so far. Forward Ollie Hawkins, another summer recruit, from Ipswich Town has five goals as has Jordan Bowery.
Rhys Oates, a star of Hartlepool's promotion in 2020/21, has five goals and three assists on the season so far with left-sided Irishman Stephen McLaughlin also contributing five assists.
The Stags have also added Lucas Akins and Kieran Wallace from Burton Albion in the January window.
Recent history
The Stags have spent all but one season of their long tenure in the Football League in the bottom two divisions, and apart from the 2003/04 season have spent the majority of time residing in the fourth tier since the turn of the century.
They also spent five seasons in the National League following relegation in 2008 before returning in 2013 where they have remained since. They have reached the League Two play-offs once since their return, losing to Newport County on penalties in the 2018/19 season.
Team news
Town's injury troubles have begun to ease although they will again be without Ryan Fallowfield and Simon Power tomorrow evening, while Lewis Richards will be assessed having been withdrawn late at Stevenage.
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