LOMAS ON STAGS: As crowds increase when will Stags tackle Bishop Street?

Fans are going down and enjoying what they see – and then coming back for more.

The visit of Bradford City this Saturday has seen an allocation of 1,737 seats for the visitors which will see the North Stand full and a great atmosphere as two of the expected promotion candidates clash.

Few seats will remain in the home section too, though as Chad went to press it had not yet been deemed all ticket like last Saturday.

So you wonder at what point club owners John and Carolyn Radford will seriously contemplate starting work on the derelict Bishop Street Stand side to increase capacity.

The Radfords have rightly always maintained it would be a very expensive exercise and pointless while there were plenty of empty seats in the other two home stands.

But, with over 5,100 season ticket holders this year – a new club record – and some fantastic football on offer, that has changed quickly.

The depth of the area on that side limits options – there won’t be a second Ian Greaves-type stand any time soon.

But some ingenious stand in the centre with maybe room for sponsors’ boxes plus safe standing either side would make a lot of people very happy from the business world and those who treasure the days of standing to watch a football match. It will be interesting to see how or if this develops if Stags’ early form continues and a genuine push for top three or the title grows.

After hitting top form twice in the previous two home games and keeping clean sheets, it didn’t quite go to plan on Saturday as a decent Stockport side twice went ahead.

But the hallmark of a good side is winning when you are not in top form and Stags, with nine players out injured, did that by finding an extra gear for the last half hour when they finally went ahead and could have won it by more.

David Keillor-Dunn looked every inch one of the best signings for years and will wonder how he did not get a hat-trick.

And striker-by-trade Jordan Bowery slotted into a makeshift centre half role as if he’d been there all his life.