With several players unavailable, another patchwork Stags side had a good first half in which they failed to take their chances and were caught on a counter attack, beating guest keeper Jamie Annerson.

• Boston United 3 Mansfield Town 0

However, in a largely poor second half display, a suicidal dribble across his own box by trialist Craig Nelthorpe led to a penalty kick which eased Boston towards their victory.

McEwan said: "I am obviously disappointed to lose the game but I thought that in the opening stages we had some good chances to score but didn't put them away.

"We had a lot of players missing and so I used this game to try one or two things out and experiment which I wouldn't do in a League game. And hopefully that won't be the team I put out next week.

"In the first half hour we put a lot of balls into the box with no one on the end of them. We had some really good opportunities to score.

"But we got caught out at the back for the first goal with some poor defending. We gave the ball away cheaply up front and they just went through us too easily.

"The goals we conceded in the second half were poor.

"We brought in young Nelthorpe from Doncaster who is a left sided player who I thought could play left back as well as left side midfield. But clearly he can't. What he did was inexplicable. He was obviously a round peg in a square hole and will learn from that. He is here for a while for us to look at him and I won't make decisions on one game.

"I also tried Alan O'Hare at left back but wanted to get him back into the centre.

"We are short at left back right now until I can get the Alex Jeannin deal tied up. But his agent is dealing with a big move involving Glasgow Rangers right now which is holding ours up.

"Paddy Gamble was very ill yesterday so thanks to Sheffield United for allowing Jamie Annerson to play for us. He played 45 minutes for United the night before which I watched and I thought he did very well for us.

"We did cause them problems up front but we lacked penetration coming from midfield or the flanks. And we have a lot of naivety in the squad. There is lots to work on and while I am concerned about today, I am not unduly concerned."

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