IT can be hard to find inspiration when your club are fighting for their Football League lives but embattled fans can find some solace ahead of York City's vital League Two trip to Mansfield Town on Saturday.

For if the Minstermen's better away form this season is not enough to convince you that all three points could be heading back to North Yorkshire, then there is plenty to take from recent tussles with the Stags.

City haven't tasted defeat in Nottinghamshire for the best part of five years and who can forget that day in May, three years ago, when York booked their spot in the Blue Square Bet play-off final after a famous win at Field Mill?

May 7, 2012: Mansfield Town 0, York City 1 - Blue Square Bet play-off semi-final second leg

AFTER being held to a 1-1 draw in the first leg at home, having played the last 20 minutes with an extra man after star striker Matt Green was sent off, some pundits felt York City had blown their chance of a second trip to Wembley.

Armed with the cannon long-throw of Exodus Geohaghon, Mansfield had been imperious at home in the Conference that season - not losing since a 2-1 defeat to Cambridge United the previous November.

Coming into the game on the back of four straight home wins, it looked an uphill battle for the visitors. But the steel and determination in manager Gary Mills' warriors shone through once again.

It was a tense affair and required extra-time.

But after City had resisted with perseverance and grit, they won the game nine minutes before penalties would have been required.

That man Matty Blair was the hero.

Having sent his side to Wembley in the FA Trophy with a late header at Luton, Blair produced a near identical finish against Mansfield, meeting Jason Walker's cross from the left and nodding in to send the watching away fans into ecstasy.

Of course, at Wembley, the best was yet to come.

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IF your memory doesn't go back that far, or, you prefer to bask in more recent glories, we only have to go back 12 months - and the last time York travelled south to Mansfield - to find another game to cheer about.

March 14, 2014: Mansfield Town 0, York City 1 - SkyBet League Two

HARD as it might have been to imagine come May, Nigel Worthington's side were flirting with the League Two relegation battle before the turn of the year.

But in mid-March, on the back of reinforcements such as Russell Penn and Keith Lowe, his side were charging up the table.

They arrived at Mansfield already six games into what would turn out to be a 17-match unbeaten run. Never flash, the manner of victory that day - a 1-0 win - represented Worthington's team at its most combative.

It was a Ryan Bowman penalty that settled it - slotted coolly to the left corner of Alan Marriott's goal after Josh Carson had gone flying when on a surging run down the right side of the area.

York were awarded a second penalty in stoppage time, after Wes Fletcher was fouled, but, this time, Marriott denied the striker.

So what price three away wins in a row this weekend? At 9/5, history suggests York could be just the ticket.

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