Mansfield Town are in Leasing.com Trophy action tonight (aka the Football League Trophy and formerly the Freight Rover Trophy which the Stags won in 1987) at Burton Albion as they look to improve on two penalty defeats in their two group five matches so far knowing a win will see them through to round two.

The competition has come under criticism in recent times after allowing top two tier teams to play under 21 sides in what has largely been a pathway to Wembley for the bottom two divisions of the English Football League.

This year Mansfield have been drawn in a group that includes Everton Under 21’s, Burton and Crewe Alexander and adding to competition confusion the group stages have included penalty shoot outs for tied matches at ninety minutes with an extra point on offer for the winner.

The Stags have been unfortunate in both matches so far drawing with Everton 1-1 in their first game at Field Mill before losing the shoot out, they also drew with Crewe 1-1 losing the bonus points in a shoot out but with two points from two games a win against Burton Albion will see them climb from bottom of the group table to second and qualify alongside Everton’s young side.

Anything less for the Stags is likely to mean they miss out but if the game does finish level tonight and Mansfield win on penalties they still could qualify at the expense of Crewe. Confused? All you need to know is if Mansfield win by one way or another they’ll still have a shot at a Wembley final so John Dempster will put out a strong side as they look to go through.

Dempster said “”We’ll be putting a strong side out against Burton. We know if we win the game, we go through, which would be good.”

“It gives us more games going forward, which is a good thing for players that maybe haven’t had enough game time.”

Mansfield have confirmed that Danny Rose will play after returning from injury on the bench on Saturday as will Jacob Mellis and CJ Hamilton.

The Stags will still be without Hayden White and Krystian Pearce but the Brewers themselves are missing Kieran O’Hara, Liam Boyce and Nathan Broadhead who have all been called up for international duty.

Away fans have been allocated 200 tickets for the game and plenty will be available with adult prices at £10 and juniors (U17) £5. Kick off is 7:45pm.

*Main image @dannypea the Pirelli Stadium home to Burton Albion.