Separated by just one place and one point in the League Two standings, Mansfield Town and Wrexham temporarily cease their promotion charge to lock horns in the FA Cup first round at Field Mill on Saturday evening.
The hosts suffered their first defeat of the season to Port Vale in the EFL Cup in midweek, while their visitors comfortably dispatched Notts County 2-0 in their most recent league affair.
Match preview
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Facing higher-tier opposition in Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough United did not faze Mansfield during the earlier rounds of the EFL Cup, and Nigel Clough's men had their remarkable unbeaten record still intact when Port Vale came to Field Mill in midweek.
A first-ever quarter-final appearance in the EFL Cup would have been Mansfield's reward had they managed to stretch their unbeaten sequence to 21 matches, but they failed to replicate The Undertaker's infamous WrestleMania streak, as Tottenham Hotspur loanee Alfie Devine propelled Port Vale into the last eight.
A maiden defeat in the 2023-24 season also brought a swift end to the Stags' four-game winning run, but head coach Nigel Clough was "incredibly proud" of his players' efforts regardless, as his side gear up for the second of three successive knockout fixtures; an EFL Trophy meeting with Everton's Under-21s is on the agenda for Tuesday.
A last-16 appearance in the 1950-51 campaign represents Mansfield's best run in the FA Cup to date, but the Stags have not suffered a first-round elimination since 2018-19, when Charlton Athletic needed a replay to defeat their lower-tier counterparts.
Since then, two second-round and a pair of third-round exits have been written into the record books, and from the hosts' three previous FA Cup proper ties with Wrexham - which all came in the 1970s - they have eliminated their Welsh foes in each of them.
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Renewing hostilities after butting heads in an enthralling National League title race last season, Notts County and Wrexham also seem destined to vie for back-to-back promotions this time around, but Phil Parkinson's side were a class above at Meadow Lane last Saturday.
Both defences remained unbroken until the 73rd minute, where Elliot Lee's opener preceded an Ollie Palmer strike just three minutes later, and there would be no Ben Foster-esque penalty heroics required from the Red Dragons this time around.
By leaving Meadow Lane with all three points in the bag, Wrexham rose above upcoming opponents Mansfield into third place in the League Two table, five points below runaway leaders Stockport County but only being kept off the silver medal position - occupied by Notts County - on goals scored.
Following a slightly rough re-acclimatisation period in the English Football League, Wrexham have now strung together an eight-game run without defeat across all tournaments, winning five of their last six contests and conceding just one goal on the road since the beginning of October.
One of those four shut-outs came in a 0-0 draw with Mansfield last month, where the Stags fired 20 shots to no avail, but following first-round FA Cup exits in 2019-20 and 2021-22, Wrexham briefly experienced the magic of the cup in 2022-23, as they got as far as round four before a replay defeat at the hands of Sheffield United.
Team News
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Mansfield's lack of attacking firepower against Port Vale can be partially attributed to the absence of experienced striker Lucas Akins, who was not risked for the fourth round after coming off with a head injury in his side's recent League Two win over Walsall.
Akins's availability remains clouded in uncertainty at the time of writing, but Clough received two fitness boosts in the shape of Rhys Oates and Stephen McLaughlin, who both came on as second-half substitutes versus the Valiants.
However, Clough has already ruled the pair out of the first XI here - they will instead start against Everton's Under-21s in the EFL Trophy - while Achilles victim Alfie Kilgour has been ruled out for the season.
Wrexham must also work around the absence of a veteran marksman, as Steven Fletcher has undergone an operation on a knee injury and joins a host of his teammates in the Dragons' sick bay, having played through the pain for weeks before his procedure.
All of Eoghan O'Connell, Ryan Barnett, Jordan Tunnicliffe and Rob Lainton are also in the care of the medical team, while Aaron Hayden has been nursing a hamstring injury, which he is not guaranteed to recover from in time for Saturday.
Revered striker Paul Mullin and left wing-back James McClean picked up suspension-inducing yellow cards against Notts County, but the pair are fine to feature here, with their bans carrying over to next weekend's contest with Gillingham.
Mansfield Town possible starting lineup:
Pym; Bowery, Flint, Brunt, MacDonald; Lewis, Reed, Clarke; Maris; Keillor-Dunn, Gale
Wrexham possible starting lineup:
Okonkwo; Mendy, Evans, Tozer, O'Conner, McClean; Jones, Cannon; Lee; Mullin, Palmer
We say: Mansfield Town 0-1 Wrexham
Sweating over the fitness of Akins and reeling from their first defeat of the season, the stage appears set for a jelly-legged Mansfield to suffer a second cup exit in a matter of days.
Despite their unenviable injury list, Wrexham have been a tough nut to crack on enemy territory in recent weeks, and we believe that Parkinson's men have what it takes to shade a tight battle to book their place in round two.
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Top tip
Ben Knapton
