James Heneghan's Northampton Town v Mansfield Town preview

Date/time: Saturday, March 7, 3pm kick-off

Venue: PTS Academy Stadium

Forecast: 9C, cloudy

Outs and doubts: Cobblers: Shaun McWilliams, Andy Williams. Mansfield: Alex MacDonald, Kellan Gordon, Matt Preston

Betting: Northampton 19/20, draw 23/10, Mansfield 3/1

Form guide: Cobblers WLWLLL, Stags LWLDDL

Current league positions: 6th v 21st

Possible line-ups: Northampton (3-5-2): Cornell; Goode, Wharton, Turnbull; McCormack, Watson, Hoskins, Adams, Marshall; Morton, Oliver. Mansfield (3-4-1-2): Stone; Sweeney, Pearce, Watts; White, Tomlinson, Bishop, Hamilton; Charsley; Rose, Maynard

Man in the middle: Peter Wright

Last time out: Grimsby 0 Northampton 3 (Goode, Morton 2); Cheltenham 1 Mansfield 0

Most recent meeting: Saturday, December 21, 2019 - Mansfield 1 (Cook) Northampton 1 (Smith)

Record v Mansfield: P75 W24 D15 L36

James Heneghan's preview: This year's tag for biggest underachievers in Sky Bet League Two very much belongs to Mansfield Town who must be counting down the days until May so they can put this miserable campaign behind them.

Among the favourites for the title, let alone promotion, in pre-season, the Stags are all the way down in 21st place with just 35 points from 35 games ahead tomorrow's trip to the PTS.

In a normal season, they would be nervously looking over their shoulders at the drop zone. Fortunately for them though, this is no normal season.

Bury's expulsion from the EFL and the troubles of hapless Stevenage means Mansfield are in no danger of relegation, and with their promotion hopes long since gone, they have precious little to play for.

But that makes them dangerous opponents and any team that contains Nicky Maynard and Danny Rose can't be taken lightly. Irrespective of Mansfield's lowly league position, on their day they can compete with any side in the division.

However, for the Cobblers, tomorrow's game marks the start of a favourable run of fixtures against sides largely in the bottom half of the table and therefore an opportunity to cement their play-off position ahead of a tough end to the season.

Players are returning from injury at just the right time for Keith Curle. The Town manager is spoilt for choice across the pitch but especially in central midfield where Scott Pollock's recent form and James Olayinka's return to fitness adds to his headaches.

Olainka is a very useful option to have at this stage of the campaign, as is striker Harry Smith, but Curle will likely stick with the same team that swept aside Grimsby Town last week.

That was an impressive and timely win for the Cobblers but inconsistency has already undermined their automatic promotion challenge this season. If the same is not to happen to their play-off push, they must back it up with another against the struggling Stags tomorrow.

Prediction: Northampton Town 3 Mansfield Town 1