Hibs hero Conrad Logan to summon spirit of Scottish Cup in Mansfield play-offs

Conrad Logan is left helpless as MK Dons score to consign Mansfield to the play-offs. Pic: SNS

Three years on, the legendary former Easter Road goalkeeper is hoping to enjoy a similarly exhilarating climax to the current campaign with Mansfield Town.

Logan and his colleagues were left licking their wounds last Saturday after allowing automatic promotion from League Two to slip from their grasp. Having sat in the top three of England’s fourth tier for most of the season, a point on the final day of the campaign away to MK Dons would have sufficed to take them back into League One for the first time in 16 years. Unfortunately for the 33-year-old Irishman, his side slipped to a 1-0 defeat which allowed MK Dons to join Bury and champions Lincoln City in winning promotion. Mansfield must now rouse themselves for another tilt at promotion through the play-offs, with the first leg of their semi-final away to Newport County this evening.

“It’s been a slightly disappointing end to the season with us being up in second and third place and then slipping into the play-offs,” Logan told the Evening News. “We were up there long enough. Lincoln had pulled away but for much of the season it was between ourselves, Bury and MK Dons for the other two automatic places. It was in our own hands last Saturday – if we’d have drawn or won against MK Dons we would have been up. But at least we’ve got a second bite of the cherry. You’ve just got to move on and go again. We had a player of the year event on Sunday and it was the best thing for us. We were all dejected on Saturday but that night helped lift us all. Look, if you could guarantee going up at Wembley, there’s no better way of going up, so everyone’s trying to achieve that now.”

Conrad Logan won the Scottish Cup with Hibs during his time at the club. Pic: TSPL

Although Mansfield are going into the play-offs on a downer after three consecutive defeats, Logan recalls how Hibs bounced back from the deflation of losing a play-off semi-final against Falkirk to win the Scottish Cup just eight days later in 2016. “That’s football – it’s up and downs and they can come so quickly,” he said. “At Hibs we lost to Falkirk on the Friday night but we had no time to dwell on it because we had a Scottish Cup final to prepare for which turned out to be the biggest game in the club’s history. It’s always disappointing when things don’t go your way. I think fans probably feel these disappointments for a bit longer but as players we get in the next day for training and we have to go again. This is a chance to get to Wembley and play in a final. We’ve just got to be positive and hopefully we can get up by winning at Wembley.”

Logan has spent the past two seasons with Mansfield after a year with Rochdale in the immediate aftermath of his departure from Hibs. The play-offs will count as The Polar Bear’s most high-stakes matches since his short-but-sweet stint in Edinburgh ended in Scottish Cup glory. “These will be the biggest games I’ve played in since I left Hibs,” he said. “At Rochdale (two seasons ago) we missed out on the play-offs on the last day of the season and we missed out last season as well. But this season we’re in the play-offs so hopefully another big game at a big stadium awaits.”

After sharing the gloves with former Falkirk goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik and Jordan Smith this season, Logan appears to have regained No.1 status under Staggies manager David Flitcroft. “I played every game last season,” he said. “This season I’ve been a bit in and out but hopefully I’m in at the right time now. The manager brought a new keeper in in January and decided to go with him straight away but he decided to go back to me so hopefully I can keep my place for the play-offs.”

Logan, who won the League Two play-off with Stockport County in 2008, could be in line for a Wembley rematch with a former Hibs colleague if Mansfield can get past Newport and Tranmere Rovers, who have ex-Easter Road striker Chris Dagnall in their ranks, see off Forest Green in the other semi. “I got on well with Chris at Hibs,” he said. “We had both played down south so we knew a lot of the same people. He was actually in the Rochdale team we beat at Wembley in 2008 so I had a bit of craic with him about that when we were at Hibs. Hopefully history can repeat itself.”