A bottom-half battle with nothing but personal pride at stake, Mansfield Town and Exeter City conclude their League One campaigns at the One Call Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Nigel Clough's crop will have only had two days to recover from their 4-2 slaying of Peterborough United in midweek, whereas the visitors have had a week to recover from an equally impressive 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town.
Match preview
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Six times Mansfield Town had tried to claim a win in April before the visit of Peterborough, and six times the Stags had come up short, only taking one point from the first 18 on offer in the fourth month of the year.
However, Clough's men made it seventh time lucky on Wednesday night, ensuring that they would not go through the entirety of the Easter period without victory as Will Evans (2), Keanu Baccus and George Maris all helped put Peterborough to the sword.
Mansfield's third-tier status for 2025-26 had already been rubber-stamped before kickoff, though, and the 18th-placed Stags can only rise up one place in the League One table on the final matchday, if they can better Peterborough's result against Rotherham United.
After initially threatening a shock playoff charge in the earliest weeks of the season, November onwards has been a harsh reality check for Saturday's hosts, whose repeated failings in defence have contributed heavily to their downfall in 2025.
Indeed, while Mansfield may have ended their six-game winless sequence on Wednesday, they have now conceded at least two goals in each of their last seven matches and have failed to keep a clean sheet in 11 since March's goalless draw with Wigan Athletic.
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Mansfield's defensive disasters spells optimism for an Exeter side who also brought their best shooting boots to the penultimate matchday of the League One season, coming from a goal down against Huddersfield Town to cruise past the former Premier League contenders.
Josh Koroma's 10th goal of the campaign was not a sign of things to come from the Terriers, who subsequently shipped to Ilmari Niskanen, Jack McMillan and Andrew Oluwabori as Exeter signed off for the season at St James Park with a pleasing success.
Any result would have largely proven trivial in the grand scheme, though, as Gary Caldwell's men lie in an unremarkable 15th place in the League One table, although they could sneak into the top half with a win if Barnsley lose to Reading and neither 13th-placed Rotherham nor 14th-placed Stevenage manage to prevail.
The visitors' bottom-half standing certainly typifies their inconsistency in recent months in particular, having now won three, drawn three and lost three of their last nine contests, although just one of their last six on the road has ended in defeat.
Coincidentally, just one of Exeter's last six matches against Mansfield has seen the Grecians come out on the wrong end of the scoreline - a 2-1 loss at the One Call Stadium in 2022 - which they belatedly avenged in March with a 2-0 home triumph over the Stags.
Team News
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Mansfield did not come out of their midweek win unscathed, as defender Adedeji Oshilaja was withdrawn in the first half due to an unspecified injury, one that could open the door for Aden Flint to come back into the rearguard.
Oshilaja is joined on the sidelines by Matthew Craig, the on-loan Tottenham Hotspur midfielder who also hurt himself in the recent 4-0 loss to champions Birmingham City, while 21-year-old goalkeeper Owen Mason made his League One debut in the six-goal thriller with Peterborough.
Off the pitch, Mansfield were recently rocked by the news that experienced striker Lucas Akins was sentenced to 14 months in prison for causing the death of a cyclist due to careless or inconsiderate driving.
Caldwell can share Clough's pain when it comes to fresh concerns arising from Exeter's most recent match, as Reece Cole was forced off 10 minutes before the end against Peterborough, although his status remains unclear at the minute.
For the time being, Cole - whose spot could be filled by Jake Richards or Ryan Woods - joins Johnly Yfeko (hamstring), Ryan Trevitt (hamstring), Yanic Wildschut (ACL), Demetri Mitchell (knee) and Patrick Jones (hamstring) in a well-stocked Exeter treatment room.
From enforced to unenforced changes, 23-year-old winger Oluwabori may have played his way into just a second League One start of the season on Saturday, having opened his account for the Grecians against Huddersfield last time out.
Mansfield Town possible starting lineup:
Mason; Bowery, Flint, Cargill; Hewitt, Baccus, Reed, Maris, McLaughlin; Dwyer, Waine
Exeter City possible starting lineup:
Whitworth; Hartridge, MacDonald, Turns; McMillan, Woods, Richards, Niskanen; Oluwabori, Watts; Cox
We say: Mansfield Town 2-2 Exeter City
The less said about Mansfield's defending the better, but the Stags successfully fought fire with fire against Peterborough and can be backed for another couple of goals on the final day.
Exeter are nothing if not inconsistent too, so it would take a plucky soul to back them with any real confidence, but the Grecians can capitalise on their hosts' rearguard weaknesses in an entertaining final-day stalemate.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
