With United fresh from a superb performance against Championship side Barnsley on Tuesday night it's back to league action for the Blues as they host Mansfield Town this coming weekend.

The Stags have two draws from their league fixtures thus far but they are still one of the favourites with the pundits to be involved at the top end of League Two come the end of the season.

This weekend's visitors have had to show real resilience so far having gone two goals down in both of their opening league fixtures.

They found themselves chasing the game at Newport on season day one when Joss Labadie and Padraig Amond bagged in the first half, but Krystian Pearce and Danny Rose notched two goals in the space of just two minutes immediately after the restart to level things up. 

Jacob Mellis is serving the final match of his three-game suspension on Saturday, having been sent off for what appeared to be a stamp at Rodney Parade. He was joined in the bad books by Matt Preston, sent off late in the day during last weekend's visit of Morecambe to the One Call stadium, so he will also miss this game.

The Morecambe game saw the Stags start slowly again, with the Shrimps netting twice within the first 21 minutes, but another impressive recovery was sparked when Nicky Maynard pulled one back just before the break. The comeback was completed when Rose scored his second of the season deep into the second period.

A second meeting with Morecambe went to penalties in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, with another 2-2 draw the final outcome, before the Shrimps edged through to the next round courtesy of a penalty shoot-out.

Look out for striker Andy Cook and defender Hayden White - both former Blues are likely to play a part at the weekend. White played nine games during a two-month loan spell from Bolton back in 2014 and Cook, of course, burst through the youth ranks with United before exploding back into the professional game following a period in non-league football.

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From the manager

Speaking ahead of the game, Steven Pressley said: "Mansfield are a club with ambitions to step up to the next level as quickly as possible and they've put together a strong squad with that in mind.

"They will be pleased with the determination and attitude shown by the players so far, with them having had to battle hard to get draws from their first two league games, but they won't be pleased that they've allowed themselves to be put in a position where they've had to fight for a point rather than be pushing on for victories.

"I have no doubt they'll come here looking to put that right and we'll have to be aware of that. What we've seen is that when we play to our strengths, and when we keep the ball in good areas and make the right decisions, we are a very hard team to deal with.

"It's about us doing our jobs properly, and that's been stressed to the players. We can't have a situation where we play well one week only to be indifferent the next. We're constantly working hard to improve and hopefully this game will be another example of that.

"We saw on Tuesday night just how effective our approach can be. Barnsley made changes, but that was a very strong side and our players matched them for effort and quality, and the result came off the back of that. It goes without saying that we want to give our fans more of the same."

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Head2Head

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Highlights from previous meetings

Carlisle United 3 - 2 Mansfield Town - Saturday 5 January 2019

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Mansfield Town 1 - 0 Carlisle United - Saturday 1 September 2018

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Match officials

Referee - Carl Boyeson
Assistant Referee 1 - Mark Cunliffe
Assistant Referee 2 - Billy Smallwood
Fourth Official - Adam Herczeg

Our match referee this weekend is Carl Boyeson. Carl has taken charge of one game so far this season showing three yellow cards.

A regular for Carlisle United fixtures, we saw him on three occasions last season. He was the man in the middle for our 3-0 away defeat at Stevenage in April - a day which also saw Gary Miller and Tom Parkes go in the book.

Prior to that he was our match referee in January when he took charge of the home game against Cheltenham. Early second half goals from Jamie Devitt and Hallam Hope bagged us the victory, and there were no United names taken on the day.

Also last season he officiated for our home game against Forest Green in November. Ben Morris and Carl Winchester had given the visitors a two-goal cushion, but a late Jamie Devitt penalty turned out to be nothing more than a consolation as Rovers claimed their victory. Anthony Gerrard was the only Carlisle name to be logged.

Think back a year and he was in charge of a game that turned into a thriller for all the wrong reasons when we made the trip to face Wycombe last February. A horrible first half saw the Blues go two goals behind as Matt Bloomfield and Luke O'Nien bagged quickfire goals either side of the half hour mark.

The tide changed at the start of the second half when O'Nien was sent off, and a penalty from Danny Grainger brought United right back into the game. Jamie Devitt and Cole Stockton turned it well and truly on its head, and the visitors appeared to have secured the three points as the clock ticked in to time added on.

That was when the world fell apart for the Cumbrians as Marcus Bean and Paris Cowan-Hall pounced within seconds of each other to leave the away side pondering what might have been. 

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Is that a fact?

The Domesday Book compiled in 1086 has the settlement recorded as Mammesfeld whereas in later market-petition documents of 1227 the spelling had changed to Maunnesfeld.

By the time Richard II signed a warrant in November 1377 granting the right for tenants to hold a four-day fair every year, the spelling had changed again to Mannesfeld.

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Match tickets

Full match ticket details are HERE.

You can purchase your tickets online HERE.

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