Clough 'realistic' over Stags' chances at Everton

Nigel Clough has seen his Mansfield Town side rally after losing their first two league games of the season to win four matches in a row

Nigel Clough says he is "realistic" over the chances of League One Mansfield Town joining the list of Carabao Cup giant-killers as they go to Premier League Everton on Wednesday.

Top-flight sides Leeds and Sunderland were eliminated by lower-league opposition in the competition on Tuesday, with both going out on penalties to second-tier Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town, from the third, respectively.

But the Stags manager, who spent three seasons in the red half of Merseyside with Liverpool in the 1990s, accepts it is a long shot for his League One side to take another Premier League scalp.

"There's a belief we can put on a performance the way we've been playing recently and see where that takes us," Clough told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"But we're very realistic about it. We know Everton's reserves would beat us nine times out of 10.

"I don't know what sort of team Everton are going to play. I've no idea whether it's going to be strong, or a mix, or whatever, but then again they don't know what we're going to play either. Not that they will be too worried!

"Nobody expects us to get anything at all."

'The reports say it's absolutely spectacular'

The game will be the first cup tie played at Everton's new £750m Hill Dickinson Stadium and it will be a sell-out with in-form Mansfield, who have won their last three games, taking 6,000 fans.

"We're going to be playing in front of 50,000, [in a] new stadium. It's going to be a wonderful experience for the players," said Clough.

"That really makes it, the stadium, because we're the first team in history to play a competitive cup game there.

"We don't know if we'll ever have the opportunity to go again, certainly in a competitive way, so it's a brilliant tie.

"The reports say it's absolutely spectacular.

"You have to thrive on that and really look forward to it and don't be too concerned about everything.

"It's just 90 minutes of football whether it's in front of 50,000 fans or 10 or 15,000 against Lincoln on Saturday. So just enjoy it."

Everton's gleaming new Hill Dickinson Stadium awaits League One Mansfield tonight