Mansfield having problems ahead of game

By Nathan Jackson
February 27 2007

Mansfield Town will come to Sincil Bank on Saturday with several problems with their midfield selection process. Virtually all of Mansfield's regular midfield are either injured, have personal problems, or have problems in simply getting to Field Mill.

The latest headache to hit Field Mill is the unusual problem of on loan Bryan Hodge has been banned from driving for 3 years. After being named "Man of the Match" for his performance in the Stag's 3-2 win over Wycombe on Saturday, Hodge headed to Blackpool and was pulled over by the Police. He was arrested for drink driving, he was subsequently banned for 3 years, and has to serve 350 hours of community service.

Giles Coke is out for the season, and Callum Lloyd is likely to be out for at least another 2 weeks due to an injury picked up last week. Matt Hamshaw, who almost joined the Imps in the summer, has missed their last 2 games for personal reasons. Mansfield will also be without the services of Martin Grittion, a striker on loan from Lincoln. City allowed him to join on loan several weeks ago but one of the stipulations was that he couldn't face the Imps in that time.

Lincoln will be without the services of Nat Brown as he serves a one match ban, it is also unlikely that Dany N'Guessan will feature after his injury against Torquay nearly 3 weeks ago.