THE FA Cup first round is one of the biggest days in the football calendar and the stuff that dreams are made off.

We can all remember the magical days of the world’s most famous domestic cup competition. Who can forget Wimbledon’s amazing upset of the mighty Liverpool in the 1988 final, or non-league Sutton United’s humbling of top-flight Coventry City, who had won the FA Cup just two season’s before?

For Paulton, of the Zamaretto League South and West Division, the dream has already begun after they pulled Norwich City out of the hat to assure themselves of a lucrative appearance in front of the television cameras and a day in the national spotlight.

And on Saturday Stags have their own chance to create their own piece of cup history as they attempt to battle their way into the third round and a possible money-spinning tie with one of the Premier League big boys.

But while Mansfield Town chairman Andy Perry may be rubbing his hands in glee at the thought of a massive pay day, boss David Holdsworth is only focusing on glory on the pitch.

Stags may not have bagged a glamour first round tie, but what they have bagged is a fantastic chance to progress to the next round and put themselves within just 90 minutes of a possible trip to Old Trafford, Anfield or Stamford Bridge.

And what a day that would be for the long-suffering Field Mill faithful and everyone connected with Mansfield Town. We all remember the impact on the club before the cup clashes with North East giants Newcastle United and Middlesborough.

With Stags sitting fourth in the Blue Square Premier and Forest Green sitting in the relegation places, the signs look good for cup progress and then who knows.

Ok so I may be wrong. . . Stags may get bombed out in the next round after a Forest Green horror show, or they may get eliminated in the second round against an unglamorous side such as Stockport or Barnet.

But for now let us all dream . . . after all isn’t that what the FA Cup is all about.

WITH ‘Aggro Altrincham’ sent home with their tails between their legs last weekend, it’s now time to sort out ‘Horrible Histon’ this weekend!

And Stags are far better equipped to deal with the visitors’ long ball game this season with the new personnel assembled by boss David Holdsworth.

The 3-0 away defeat to Histon was one of the lowest points of a miserable season last time around.

But on current form it’s hard to see Stags not extending this current rich vein of six win in seven games.
Having seen the video on our web site, Stags fans will doubtless be hoping to see new winger Craig Dobson parading more of the skills that made him Nike Freestyle Champion on Saturday.

His party piece is one where he catches the ball on the back of his neck, then races forward, backheeling the ball back over his head (and the advancing defence) with a burst of speed as they, in theory, stand baffled.

In reality, if he tried that against the Histon defence this Saturday, he could find himself halted unceremoniously.

But it is great to see Mansfield sign a player who is this comfortable on the ball and, as he gets more used to his new surrounds and team mates, he will hopefully provide us with some wonderful entertainment his season.

That could spell bad news for Louis Briscoe whose fall down his own stairs at home two weeks back could prove very costly as far as getting back into the side goes.

Matt Somner could find himself similarly sidelined after serving a one match ban this Saturday when a needless foul against Altrincham tipped him over the five cautions mark.

Steven Istead, Ollie Hotchkiss and Craig Armstrong will hope to take advantage and not look back – testament to the current strength of this squad.

Another three points will lead us very nicely into next week’s FA Cup clash at Forest Green Rovers where the only highlight last season was the sausage and mash in their clubhouse (don’t miss it).

On a sombre note, former Stags assistant boss John Jarman’s funeral takes place tomorrow (Friday).

His time with Stags was before I became involved with the club but he was a regular visitor to the offices here to see me in his later years and a lovely guy.

Also, for all those on Stagsnet moaning that the new Field Mill electronic scoreboard is too small, size is not important – so women say.

It’s more about how quick the ‘goals for’ next to the name of Mansfield clicks round.

Let’s hope it turns quickly this Saturday.

HOPEFULLY Stags’ recent run of form will bring the more fickle fans of Mansfield Town flooding back to Field Mill this Saturday for the start of this season’s FA Cup adventure.

The hardcore fans, as always, have stuck with this exciting new-look squad this season which, with five wins in six games, have really started to make their mark on the Blue Square Premier Division.

However, the new owners’ hopes that the town would flock back to support them have not yet materialised.

We have had the credit crunch’s continuing bite on family spending and also a large number of fans who would rather ‘wait and see’ before leaping onto the bandwagon of success.

On August Bank Holiday Monday the best home turnout of 3,785 Stags fan turned out for the only home 0-0 of the season!

Despite the Mill wins over Oxford United and Hayes and Yeading, the home fans total dipped inexplicably below the magic 3,000 mark by the time Forest Green Rovers visited on 3rd October for the first time this season.

Two successive away wins to cement fourth place in the league since then – five wins in six – and the magic of the FA Cup will surely boost matters this Saturday.

It won’t do any harm that, after the bruising encounter at Altrincham two weeks ago in which Alty had two men sent of, this has the makings of a ‘grudge match’ too.

I would be surprised to see it finish 11 on 11. I would also be surprised to see anything other than a Stags win as one or two players can remember how they were treated at Altrincham.

David Holdsworth has continued to bring players in and tinker with his squad and the new owners have continued to fully back him. Now is the time for the rest of the town to do the same on Saturday.

By the way, if it did end in a replay and we had to to go back to Altrincham on Tuesday night, don’t miss the fish and chips on offer opposite the ground. It went straight into my top 10 footy chippies of all time three weeks ago!

Hope everyone who made a weekend of the Eastbourne trip enjoyed the sea air and three points.

It wasn’t quite as cold as last year but the sea breeze was enough to force me into a third clothing layer for the first time this season.

Although a good location and decent set-up for a little club, they have been blacklisted in my books for being one of those strange and most unwelcome football clubs that do not serve pies!

Now that should merit a points deduction!

THINKING of driving up to Altrincham this Saturday starts bringing flashbacks of last year’s trip there when we were beaten by a goal inside the first 11 seconds!

It was dark, chilly and miserable. We were caught cold, we never really looked likely to come back against a side struggling in the table (unlike this year). And to cap it all, I drove off leaving my laptop extension cable there and had to turn round and go back for it.

We asked Billy McEwan what he thought about the early goal after the game and he admitted he was still in the tunnel and hadn’t even seen it!

I had barely looked up from my stopwatch or even had a sip from my Bovril. It was totally surreal.

Whatever happens this Saturday I am fairly certain it will be a better trip than last year’s and a better result than at Barrow last week.

It’s a lovely ideal to go away and take the game to teams, believing the best form of defence to be attack.

But it would seem David Holdsworth will tighten things up this Saturday, drop at least one of his wingers, and concentrate more on keeping the point we start the afternoon with while we suss out Alty’s possible weaknesses on the day and pack the midfield.

And, even though it may see us fall even further behing leaders Oxford United, make no mistake that a point would be a an excellent result away to a much-improved Altrincham who are seven games unbeatn and only two points behind us.

Oxford should beat Grays at home and at least maintain their 10 point lead no matter what.

But they will have a wobble somewhere down the line and someone – hopefully Stags – has to be there waiting to capitalise and put some pressure on them.

It is highly unlikely Stags will win the Conference and thereafter it’s the lottery of the play-offs.

But until it is mathematically certain they can’t catch whoever is in top spot, it is unprofessional not to be positive about chasing them.

For those who feel they may need to head to Altrincham anaesthetised and prepared for anything or for anyone who needs somewhere different to celebrate/commiserate make sure you head for the Robin Hood Beer Festival at Nottingham Castle on Friday or Saturday night.

A world record 640 beers will be on offer in the giant marquees with ciders, perry and country wines plus live music and a comedy tent.

My band played there last year so I was driving gear around and had just two halves all night which was torture.

This year I can sample a few more brews and relax and one, or even three, points at Altrincham could round off a great weekend.

‘They might be good at home but they don’t like it up em on on a wet Tuesday night way at (insert name of any lowly footballing outpost) do they?’

That is an old footballing cliche about sides that play champagne football at home but don’t feel as comfortable away from those familiar surroundings and are unable to show their true form there.

Well a wet Tuesday night in Barrow was clearly not to some of the Mansfield Town players’ liking on Tuesday against a physical home side and a hostile home support in very spartan surroundings (the gents was literally a concrete floor with a drain cover to try to aim through)!

But when the buds are back on the trees and the sun starting to warm up again in late April, it is points from those very nights at places like Barrow which will separate the wheat from the chaff, the winners from the also-rans.

Look at Oxford and Stevenage. Neither will have fancied coming to Field Mill this season against a side with a great home record. But both were able to show exactly what they are made of, Stevenage winning with a dash of help from the referee and Oxford pushing Stags all the way.

But at Barrow Stags failed to keep the ball and were torn to shreds by the mobility and inginuity of Justin Walker who scored twice and led them a merry dance.

Indeed, both centre halves Scott Garner and Luke Graham were lucky to only end the evening with yellow cards.

Yet contrast that display with the home clash against Barrow just six short weeks ago when Mansfield ran out comfortable 4-1 winners. And consider how energetic Stags were in putting an unbeaten Oxford firmly on the back foot just a week earlier.

It is true that five of the visiting side were not fully fit. But they should still have had enough to see off a Bluebirds side that lacks the quality David Holdsworth has in his squad.

It wasn’t the worst away display by any means. It is knowing what Mansfield are actually capable of that makes it hurt.

Had Stags not been stung by two superb finishes after levelling the game or had taken one of a handful of half chances later on, they might have at least brought a point home.

But Barrow, stinging from their manager’s criticisms over a 3-0 defeat at Salisbury, simply wanted it more on the night.

Mansfield’s away record has been poor for several seasons and, after winning two of the first three this season, is in danger of being their Achille’s heel again unless they do something about it quickly.

Holdsworth learned more about his players last night while I was given a suprise geography lesson!

Having booked a bed and breakfast blindly on the internet for after Tuesday’s game which was a mile and a half from the ground, I at least expected it to be on the English mainland!

Instead it was on the eighth largest marine island in the British Isles – the Isle of Walney.

This is a part of the country I am quite ignorant about and I was gobsmacked to find myself crossing a road bridge to an island you could only reach by ferry until the bridge was built in 1908.

The island overlooks the old Vickers shipyard which these days produces the submarines we keep our money-wasting Trident missiles on and, along with the paper mill and steelworks, is one of Barrow’s big three employers, albeit vastly reduced from its glory days.

I gleaned much of this knowledge from the only two blokes in the pub I finished up in to the north of the island.

Seeking a post-match pint of beer to help wipe away the misery of defeat I asked in the press box which pub I should go to locally for a decent pint. Amid some sharp intakes of breath I was advised to avoid the nearest pub to the BnB as there was a 50-50 chance of being beaten up and generally be careful!

I was advised to turn right on the island and drive into the darkness until I saw the light from the Crown.

Straight away the barmaid there recognised that I had never been in there before and told me so! But she and the two drinkers then were happy to chat about the history of the island and Barrow and it didn’t turn into a scene from the League of Gentlemen or An American Werewolf in London where strangers are unwelcome.

Those in the pub were all surprised to hear Barrow had won their second home match of the season against a Mansfield side they comfortably expecetd to take the points home.

No more surprised I woul suggest than David Holdsworth whose post-match anger and sore throat suggested we had missed the best of it in the dressing room some 30 minutes earlier.

Hopefully his words will work as this side is good enough to win at Barrow and go up this year in terms of talent, the belief and application away from home is the bit going wrong.

Forest Green shoudl be easily dispatched this Saturday. But Altrincham away the following week will be the big chance to start putting these away problems right.

PS – my apologies to Steve in South Africa who complained I had let my blogs regulaarity slip of late. Two weeks of jury service followed by playing catch-up in the office was the reason. Back on track now hopefully. Thank you for reading them!

IT has been yet another exciting week at Field Mill with four more points and a cracking new signing in Blair Sturrock.

A superb battling win at Chester was followed by what will prove to be a point gained at home to a powerful Kettering side on Monday.

Coming so soon after the Chester trip, everyone did look a little tired on Monday and, with two rock solid defences on show, the 0-0 was a fair result on the day.

It wasn’t Rob Duffy’s day. He turned the game’s only ‘goal’ over the line with his hand and saw it ruled out and then saw his ‘winning goal’ at Chester passed on to Kyle Perry later on after the club had watched a DVD of the game.

But Stags remain second and few people saw the signing of Sturrock coming.

It was a stunning piece of business by David Holdsworth and the rest of the BSP must now take Mansfield’s title claims seriously.

I used to find some of the negativity among Stags fans astonishing, though sometimes understandable under the old regime. But the moaners seem to still be doing their thing, harping on about the lack of penetration against Kettering and the lack of use for Sturrock.

Maybe we will just have to accept things will never change with some folk, even if we marched on towards the Championship.

This Saturday it’s back to Grays Athletic where Aaron O’Connor was refused admission for absolutely no reson last season as part of the Essex club’s petty fueding over his move to Mansfield.

Maybe they will try to stop Blair Sturrock going in this time? Or top scorer Kyle Perry?

Whatever their ploy, Stags should still have enough to take at least a point and probably all three.

Kidderminster will be much tougher on Tuesday and a point there would be a good one.

Congratulations to the Stags Fans United and to Colin Dobell after their historic link up.

The SFU have bought £55,000 more shares in the Stags and in return have been awarded a supporter/director place on the board which the knowledgable Dobell will be taking up.

The new regime could do no more then they have to wipe away the misery of their predecessor’s reign and the feeling grows that this really could be a season to treasure.

Hand’s up who can’t wait for 3pm on Saturday either?

It’s been a while since the buzz of a Stags game felt like this and, call me over-optimistic (or what you like), I can see us scoring another three or four goals against Ebbsfleet this weekend.

It’s a tough call for Liam Daish. He desperately needs to chalk up his first win of the new campaign at the fifth attempt. But at the same time he knows Stags have not lost at home since last year and have scored eight times in the two homes so far.

So he knows they cannot afford to come here all guns blazing and leaving room for the like of Ryan Williams and Louis Briscoe to take advantage.

I think they will sit back for a while and keep things tight before weighing up what to do to achieve that elusive first win.

One thing I can’t see them doing is hampering their chances by playing the bully boys like Barrow’s bruisers did on Tuesday night.

Be tough and rugged by all means but for the second successive season their methods at Field Mill owed more to ice hockey and rugby than football and it is only a surprise that they ended up with just one red and seven yellow cards.

To be within a goal of your opposition with just 12 minutes left and then give away two soft penalty kicks is not much cleverer either.

With regular taker Rob Duffy susbtituted, both kicks were given to Daryl Clare and I knew before he took them that both would hit the net, even despite Barrow’s petty gamesmanship in delaying the first one.

Clare deserves a start for the hard work he has done on his fitness this summer and the impact he made in both games so far. But who would you drop?

Granted Duffy didn’t have his most productive of games at Salisbury but I thought times on Tuesday he was our best player in the first half, getting among the rugged Barrow defenders.

And Kyle Perry has been a revelation since he came here and has already bagged three goals. And let’s not forget the pace of Jake Speight who is desperate not be branded a supersub this season, having already notched twice.

It’s a fantastic headache for bos David Holdsworth to deal with and one that I would not want to have to make a decision on.

Usually a side with four first class strikers will have two or three on form. But all four Stags’ front men are scoring goals and full of confidence.

Whichever pairing he puts out, I think all four will see action at some stage on Saturday and I think another three points will come our way.

But, with all the top four at home, I can also see us stuck in fourth still on Saturday tea time too.

The future is bright – the future is orange!
That seemed to be the message from Luton Town to their supporters as they ended Mansfield Town’s three-day reign at the top of the BSP on Tuesday night.
For those who didn’t go and saw the 4-1 result, it looked Mansfield had been panned.
The truth was it was a closer game than that score suggests, but with Luton always deserving the three points.
Just two goals in the last nine minutes, as Mansfield rightly went a bit gung-ho for an equaliser, finally killed off the visitors.
And it was even tougher that those two goals were a Kyle Perry own goal and a penalty conceded by the same player, who had been a two-goal hero just three days earlier!
We all agreed in the press box at the end that we did not see a side as good as Luton all last season in this league and probably won’t this season.
They look every bit the League Two side who are only here by default rather than having been a poor side last season. Only that 25 point deduction brought them here and they don’t look like they will stay long (well worth a flutter on top of your Stags bet on that form).

But I still think Mansfield are capable of pushing them hard all the way and can’t wait to beat them in the Field Mill return. And Luton have many culture shocks to overcome this season as we all know only too well.
Walking down towards  Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night brought back a lot of memories, largely bad ones about looking over my shoulder down the back streets with my lap top perched invitingly on my shoulder.
You can’t park near the ground for the match and for the residential cars who were parked near the ground, one had their side window bashed through which hardly filled you with hope your own car would be in one piece when you left the stadium late after all the post-match interviews were typed up.
An accident near Donington Services made me late on the way down (though not too late for a Pukka pie) and roadworks near Northampton produced big queues later on as we tried to stay awake long enough to get home.
Stags fans were fantastic on the first day against Crawley with their backing. But the noise those ‘mad Hatters’ made on Tuesday was something else.
It was a crescendo of vitriol – a constant barrage of aggression that will make it a very intimidating place to go for away teams, fans and referees alike.
Every single decision was contested on the pitch by their players and in the stands by their fans. Every Stags tackle was a foul, in the box was a penalty, everything the referee gve Mansfield was wrong.
If Field Mill is to be a fortress, Luton will be a giant castle with several moats (possibly cleaned out by the local MPs on expenses)?
It was funny to hear the home fans taunt Stags about their poor away following. Over 500 Stags fans were there so, on those standards, they will have a big shock as the season unfolds when several of the also-rans in this league bring just three men and a dog to their away section.
‘You’ve never won a thing’ from the Luton fans was countered by ‘You’re not famous anymore’ by the travelling fans as Mansfild’s joy at going ahead was soon silenced.
Meetings between these sides have often been fiery and goal-filled affairs and this was no exception with two red cards near the end of an all-out action-packed game that was a fantastic advert for this level of football.
So now it’s on to Salisbury which will be the polar opposite of Luton.
Salisbury are a club that almost went through financially last season and play at a tiny, picturesque little stadium – one of British football’s real outposts.
Amazingly they are the only side to win their first two games and replaced Stags at the top on Tuesday.
But I firmly believe Mansfield will have too much for them on Saturday.
I did not have much time to look at the town or its surrounds last season but, for somewhere I have never had the pleasure of visiting, I will make sure I do this time as I really liked the look of what I saw.
That means throwing a tent in the car (watcc it pour down) along with a copy of the Good Beer Guide which has revealed a promising number of top quality drinking establishments in the city centre.
The games then come thick and fast with two home games in five days.
Football is a fickle mistress and the euphoria of the opening day win was washed away by the Luton defeat.
If Stags were to lose on Saturday then all of a sudden some fans would look upon it as a poor start to the campaign.
But if Stags won at Salisbury, with two at home to follow, it could be the platform that sets them up for a campaign to remember.
It is a very fine line and none of us can wait to see which side of it the Stags end up on.

All the weeks of speculation and intrigue are over and we are finally ready to start the new football season this Saturday.

So time is running out to pop a cheeky tenner on the Stags for promotion before they thump the lovely Steve Evans’ ‘creepy Crawleys’ on Saturday and then give cocky Luton Town a rude home welcome to the BSP at Kenilworth Road on Tuesday night.

Six points from those and your odds will drop quickly at the bookies. So do it now!

To be fair, six points to head to Salisbury with next week would be a dream start, but it’s not beyond what looks to be a very capable set of players assembled this summer by David Holdsworth.

Seeing some of them close up at the training ground for the first time yesterday I must admit I was struggling to recognise some of them. And, being a short***e I was dwarfed by many of them.

For once we look like we might be a threat at set pieces and also able to defend them at the other end.

Although most of us can hazard a decent guess as to the starting XI, we could also name decent competition for every one of those places which hasn’t been the case for a while.

New skipper Gary Mills told me on my video interview with him yesterday that no one was going to start talking about promotion and success, but he added that there were very few players elsewhere in the division he would swap for the ones in the current dressing room and you can tell they are all quietly confident of making a splash this season.

Me too. I fully expect us to beat Crawley on Saturday, maybe 2-0, with a great atmosphere at the Mill. Then we face the first of two away trips inside five days.

I am not looking forward to the Luton trip on Tuesday as the parking is a way from the ground and it a real dump round there. Last time I walked down the main street towards the ground there was a discarded sofa and a discarded washing machine sitting in the middle of the pavement. Disgraceful.

This may be a good time to face the Hatters as they attempt to find their feet at home after the culture shock of their opening day trip to AFC Wimbledon where I feel they will have gained something.

Then it’s on to Salisbury where David Holdsworth had better make sure he wears the right gear (Billy McEwan last year claimed he had been ‘snitched on’ for not wearing the correct sponsors’ shirt down there).

So here begins another nine months of ups and downs, travels, arguments, frustrations, elation, real ale pubs, and football. Bring it on . . . .

THE arrival of the season’s fixtures this week seem to have suddenly brought the start of the new campaign much closer.

All of a sudden Stags fans know where they are going to be for the next nine months.

With 11 new players and increased crowds the excitement is now building.

I don’t think the fixture list has been terribly kind to us sending us hundreds of miles to Barrow and Gateshead on Tuesday nights.

Any hopes of a nice stopover in the Lake District or Newcastle quickly vanished. But with the loss of Setanta, maybe we will see less games shuffled.

 But it may be hoping too much that with the death of Setanta the BSP allow the dreadful Setanta Shield competition to die with them!

Looking at the Christmas/New Year fixtures it would seem last season’s regular sparring partners York City are now are ‘local derby’ opponents.

The first three games will give us a very good indication as to how the season may unfold.

Crawley will be tough opening day home opponents and within four days we will get the chance to see if Luton are likely to storm back towards the league or struggle to settle into life post-League.

Then Salisbury is a long old trip to give an early test to players and supporters’ coach-legs.

Sadly what seemd to have been the most positive build-up to any campaign I can remember this week has been rocked by a section of fans furious they may have to sit in a different seat to help save money on stewarding. By closing sections of the stands, Stags can cut back on stewards and save £25,000.

In the current climate it seems perfectly sensible to me and those moaning just because they have to shuffle up a few seats would probably moan whatever (as some Stags fans are apt to).

The ones who are expressing worries about bringing in friends and children concern me more as they may have a valid point.

Though I am not sure why it changes just because you have had to move along the row.

 Let’s be honest, in a 10,000-seater stadium we are not usually too pushed for space are we? But rest assured we will run all potentials problems past the chairman before next week’s Chad comes out.

Let me know what you want us to ask if you fail to get the answers you want yourselves. All any of us want is to see the club do well and get back in the League.

And if that £25,000 provides the money for a player that helps us get there then most fans would not mind too much where they sat.  Don’t you agree?

We all await next week’s AGM with interest as the club will reveal the finances to the end of April 2008 – that means we will know some of the state it was left in by the previous owner before the ‘Three Amigos’ took over.

 In the mean time let’s sit and watch England teach the Aussies some cricketing lesson.