LOMAS ON STAGS: Now Will Swan can go on and be a shooting star in League Two
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The young striker’s freak injury in February was as much a blow to the club as the injuries suffered by previous season’s top scorer Rhys Oates.
And the fact Swan managed to finish top scorer with double figures, despite such a long lay-off, and so many games coming on from the bench, bodes well for next term.
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Hide AdHe missed 13 games with the ankle injury. And had he played and scored a single goal in that time – which would have been highly likely – then Stags would have been in the play-offs.
But that is now in the past and Stags and Swan can look forward to a potentially brighter future.
Swan did not pull up any trees on his first loan spell in the EFL at Port Vale.
But Mansfield have benefitted from what he learned there, and the subsequent season training with Forest’s first team and finishing top scorer of their U23s.
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Hide AdWith a full pre-season behind him, Swan has the attributes to star in League Two next season.
The make-up of the division is continuing to take shape with play-off semi-final defeats condemning Salford City and Bradford City to another season alongside Mansfield.
Both will be a threat again – Salford with another big war chest that keeps failing to translate onto the field – and Bradford with a huge fanbase and tradition of being a big club.
In the meantime we can enjoy a final that pits Carlisle United against another big-spender in Stockport County with Stags probably hoping to see the Hatters go up and be one less wealthy opponent to worry about.
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Hide AdDown the road it was congratulations last weekend to neighbours Nottingham Forest who ended Arsenal’s title dream with a 1-0 win that secured their cherished Premier League status for another season.
That has to be good news too for Stags knowing the clubs’ close ties and possibility of getting back loanee centre half Riley Harbottle and maybe others, given relegation might have seen cost-cutting and players making their first team squad who Mansfield might have designs on.