Mansfield Town Ladies gearing up for big local derby with Chesterfield at One Call Stadium

With the visitors in second and Stags nine unbeaten in third, the sides are rivals in the East Midlands Womens Regional League title race and Andi said: “We have just got to take the fact that it's a local derby out of the situation.

“We need to get three points and that is what we will be focusing on and treating it as another game.

“We are aware of what a good side they are and we're aware of that extra little bit of rivalry between us.

“Hopefully it should be an entertaining game for spectators. They're on a good form and we've had a good run as well.

“We will prepare well and make sure everyone knows their jobs. We're going to have a certain way of playing against them and we will make sure everyone is clued into that.

“If the focus is on the game plan is takes it away more from that rivalry.

“But it is difficult and I know we have a few Mansfield Town fans in our team. It means a little bit extra to them.

“But they have to concentrate on executing our game plan and not what the occasion means.”

Playing at the One Call Stadium is another bonus for the ladies this week and Andi said: “It's brilliant. We love it every time we get to play there.

“It's a really good stadium with a really good surface and I am sure Chesterfield are also thankful of the opportunity to play on such a good stage as well. We're grateful every time we get the chance to play there.

“It makes us feel appreciated though can bring a bit of extra pressure on.

“Hopefully we'll get a few people down there.

“Every time we've played there we've been well supported – we've been well supported everywhere we've played this season and we really appreciate it when people take the time out to come and watch them. Hopefully we can put on a good show for them and get them on our side.”

Notts County top the table and are nine points ahead of Mansfield, who have two games in hand and are still to play them again too.

Andi continued: “We have built a good squad. We've had to deal with losing a couple of players to higher leagues. But we have shown consistency and a lot of character and togetherness this season, scoring a few late goals.

“It is a hugely competitive league and there are probably four sides in with a chance of winning it. “You have to be on it every week. With only one team going up it's a difficult league to get out of. Three good sides won't go up this season.

“We have huge games coming up and we need to carry on the good form. Every game is a potential cup final from now on for us. We will fight until it's mathematically impossible to win the title and we still have to play all the top sides.

“So a lot of it is in our hands. It's a tough ask, but at our best we can beat anyone in our league.

“Being a local derby we won't need any motivation on Thursday and hopefully we will do ourselves justice.”