STAGS NOSTALGIA: Mansfield ready to cross swords with Coventry once more

Do you recognise anyone on this archive shot?

The date was February 8th 1964 with both sides in Division Three and challenging for promotion.

The Sky Blues ended up champions that season with Mansfield nine points adrift in seventh spot in the end.

But the Stags, managed by Tommy Cummings, came out on top in both clashes with Coventry.

At Highfield Road back in September, they had come away with an impressive 3-0 victory thanks to goals by David Coates, Ken Wagstaff and Alan Tyrer.

The reverse fixture in February saw a crowd of 16,755 packed into the Mill for a much closer affair which ended up 3-2 to the Stags with Roy Chapman netting a brace and Brian Hall with the other goal.

Four wins that February pushed the Stags into the promotion-chasing pack and four wins and a draw from six March games kept them in the reckoning.

But two wins and two draws from the last six games just wasn’t quite good enough to sustain the challenge.

Down the years Stags and Coventry have largely been divisions apart and have only met eight times in competitive action, Mansfield winning three and drawing one of them.

Their last clash was a 2-0 home win for Stags in January 1976 in the League Cup with Ray Clarke and Terry Eccles on target.

Next season’s dates with Coventry will be revealed in the morning when the 2017/18 fixtures are released at 9am.