League Two Season Preview: Four Frontrunners Looking To Turn Despair Into Delight

League Two Season Preview: Four Frontrunners Looking To Turn Despair Into Delight
14:31, 28 Jul 2018

Of the four sides promoted from League Two last season, three had suffered recent play-off despair, while another was just relegated. Those ingredients could produce the quartet primed for glory this term, too.

The bookies have installed Milton Keynes Dons, Mansfield Town, Notts County and Lincoln City as the favourites to win the title. The former could replicate Coventry City in earning an immediate return to League One, while the latter two experienced play-off heartache in the last campaign, similar to that experienced by Wycombe Wanderers and Luton Town before them – and that duo are now preparing for life back in the third tier.

Mansfield Town aren’t quite an Accrington Stanley – last season’s champions – but having been billed as pre-season favourites last term, only to squander a play-off place going into the final day of the season, a feeling of righting some wrongs linger in that part of Nottinghamshire.

And that is an appropriate place to start, as local rivals Mansfield and Notts County are among the biggest spenders in the division. That is sure to have made the bookies stand up and take note, but it’s not simply been a case of splashing the cash for either club – their purchases look extremely astute.

The Stags, under Steve Evans, went on the kind of spree his clubs are known for last summer and, after a slow start, they looked like living up to their pre-season favourites tag until the Scot jumped ship for a guaranteed return to League One at Peterborough United – and Town fell apart under replacement David Flitcroft. He remains at the helm and has been given more money to add to the impressive array of talent Evans already acquired. Their headline signing has been that of a season-long loan deal for Nottingham Forest striker Tyler Walker.

The son of former England defender Des is quite the coup for Flitcroft – and a big spend on wages if rumours are the be believed. But his ambition in pulling off Walker’s signature should be admired. He has the potential to be prolific in League Two, his pace sure to frighten defenders and his finishing certain to hit the mark.

With the experience of Craig Davies – a scorer of plenty of goals higher up the Football League pyramid – alongside him, and last year’s Stags star Danny Rose an option too, Flitcroft’s men have plenty of firepower that suggests a potent attacking threat capable of winning plenty of points.

The same can be said of fierce rivals County, too. Only three teams scored more than Kevin Nolan’s men last term – and that was with only one striker in Jon Stead reaching double figures. Although they have lost wideman Jorge Grant – who top scored with 19 in the league, a fine return – Nolan has strengthened where it matters most by bringing in Kane Hemmings and Krystian Dennis who plundered 35 between them in the division last term to join Stead and his 13 from the previous campaign.

Having kept the division’s third best defence together, too, the ingredients are there for the Magpies to go one better. Nolan is a year more experienced and, despite being the youngest manager in the Football League, has illustrated already his ability to create a winning football team having lifted his side from the depths of relegation trouble to a play-off semi-final in just 18 months.

While County were losing to eventual victors Coventry over two legs, Lincoln were doing the same against Exeter. The Imps are intent on keeping their club’s breathtaking momentum going by pushing for promotion to League One. It’s been a whirlwind two years in charge for Danny Cowley with the Conference title and historic FA Cup run followed by a play-off finish and Checkatrade Trophy victory. With regular sell-outs at Sincil Bank and players desperate to play for one of the country’s most sought-after managers, City are certain to figure in the shake-up.

They have added Barnet’s John Akinde whose power, pace and knowhow to complement the ever-willing and potent Matt Green forms another fearsome strikeforce in the division. Bruno Andrade could add some x-factor and Harry Toffolo is a promising purchase. But their biggest asset will continue to be the constant presence of Cowley pushing for more and exerting every last drop out of a group of players whose quest for victory is often relentless.

Exeter missed out to Coventry at Wembley and then lost their long-serving manager Paul Tisdale. The Grecians could be in for a troubled campaign on the back of a second successive playoff-final defeat and Tisdale’s departure after 12 years in charge. For a start, he has taken Jordan Moore-Taylor, Ryan Harley and Robbie Simpson with him. And if anyone knows what it takes to figure in a League Two promotion battle it is Tisdale. Only this time, he has the resources to work with that he could only have dreamt about at St James Park.

With MK’s facilities and a desire to play attractive football, Tisdale could be the dream fit to get them moving forwards again.

If the bookies are wrong with that quartet though, who looks primed to take advantage? Bury, albeit with a novice manager in Ryan Lowe, will aim to follow Coventry’s lead too with an immediate League One return. The Shakers had a shocker last term and were cut adrift at the bottom. Lowe, a hero from his playing days at Gigg Lane, has been busy in his first transfer market. Tom Miller and Nicky Adams are strong buys from Carlisle, the duo being among the Cumbrians’ better players and certainly knowing this division. The same goes for evergreen striker Chris Dagnall and left-back Chris Stokes – a mainstay of Coventry’s promotion side last term.

Northampton Town and Swindon Town should figure, while Stevenage have spent well in the summer – Joe Martin and Harry Beautyman particularly impressive captures as they bid to offset the loss of Matty Godden’s goals.

But the outsiders could be Port Vale. Traditionally strong at this level, the Valiants surprisingly struggled last term despite the constant threat of goalscorer Tom Pope. He remains, and manager Neil Aspin – who steadied the ship when arriving last season – has quietly gone about his business effectively. The return of Louis Dodds has ignited supporters’ hopes, while Ricky Miller is a tasty acquisition to partner Pope.

But it’s the League Two knowhow in Scott Brown, the goalkeeper promoted with Wycombe last season, Leon Legge, most recently Cambridge’s captain, and determined midfielder Luke Joyce, himself previously a skipper when with Accrington, who could make the biggest difference in turning Vale from relegation battlers to dark horses for promotion.

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