Mansfield came the closest to promotion back to the Football League in the four years since they have dropped into non-league but ultimately they failed to reach the ultimate goal. Paul Cox was appointed as manager in the summer after a few impressive seasons with Eastwood in the lower division and his start with the Stags was less than auspicious as they failed to beat the likes of Braintree and Bath City at the start of the season while being thumped by Gateshead. Things started to get much better in September with six wins out of six, including a superb 5:0 demolition of Newport County and a 3:1 win away at Wrexham. Yet, the next few games brought little joy for the fans as the team was struggling to turn their dominance into goals and was drawing too many games. Also the FA Cup dream was killed pretty quickly and in painful manner with Fleetwood thrashing them 5:0 in a replay after a 1:1 draw a home. Cox started to get under a bit of pressure in November as results continued to be disappointing as Cambridge won at Field Mill. The team was at that stage sitting outside the play-off zone and promotion challenge looked hardly on the cards. Cox was deprived of his headline signing of the summer in John Thompson who was constantly injured and lacking in fitness which hardly helped the defence. Louis Briscoe was also struggling with injury and nowhere near the levels of performances from last season. Only Matt Green was coming up with the goods up front but it was not enough to turn the Stags from a decent team to a successful one. However, the capture of Port Vale midfield Gary Roberts, a player that should be playing at a higher level than non-league, changed the outlook of the team and made them much more assured in midfield while also providing a thrust going forward. Draws started to turn into wins and Mansfield were definitely moving in the right direction, playing expansive attacking football. The gap to the top-five was quickly eaten up and Mansfield emerged as the outstanding team in the spring, scoring for fun and finally looked settled and assured at the back. They scored 13 goals in two games in March and went on a superb run of wins, losing only two games from late December to the end of the regular season. They finished third and with seemingly unstoppable momentum going to the play-offs but they came up just short in two closely-contested games against York. First they drew 1:1 away from home and were then cruelly beaten 1:0 after extra-time at home. Cox was absolutely distraught at the end but the foundations of a very good team were laid in the second half of the season and the fans should be in optimistic going to the next campaign.
