Hartlepool United vs Mansfield Town Match Analysis and Prediction

2 years ago 342

Playoff hopefuls Mansfield Town will look to extend their winning streak to three matches now in EFL League Two when they travel to Victoria Park Hartlepool on Tuesday night with kickoff at 21:45.

Hartlepool continued their inconsistency last time in the division as they fell to a 2-0 defeat to Northampton Town at away last Saturday. Prior to the defeat Graeme Lee’s men were coming off a 3-2 victory over Newport County at away on March 18. They have now won just of their last five matches across all competitions, while have failed to pick up consecutive wins since early February.

The inconsistency is the major reason Hartlepool are stuck in the bottom half although are level on points with the 12^th-placed Crawley Town and three points on Tuesday could leave them in the top half.

They will therefore attempt to quickly bounce back in this match and will draw confidence from their solid home form this season, having only suffered three defeats in their 18 home matches, which is the 10^th best record in League Two.

However, they have failed to win in their last three meetings with Mansfield, picking up a draw and back-to-back defeats including the 3-2 defeat in the reverse fixture.

Mansfield on the other hand came from a 2-0 deficit to claim all three points in their previous League Two fixture against Oldham Athletic with John-Joe O’Toole, Jordan Bowery and George Maris proving to be the difference makers in the five-goal thriller.

The victory was their second consecutive win in League Two on the bounce and have now suffered two defeats in their last 18 league matches a run that has seen them rise to the seventh spot in the standings.

The Stags are just a point outside the playoff spots and with three matches in hand on most of the sides above them on the table. If they were to win all those matches, they would have a shot at an automatic promotion, which gives plenty of motivation needed heading into their final fixtures this season.

Hartlepool vs Mansfield head to head

Both sides have met in 11 encounters since 2006 with Hartlepool claiming five victories while Mansfield have claimed four victories and there have been two draws.