Anger and regret for Nigel Clough as red card sees Mansfield Town crumble when set for win at Bolton Wanderers​​​​​​​

But he was also angry with himself for not quickly bringing the midfielder off after his first yellow card 11 minutes before and said that is a mistake he won't make again.

Boateng had put Stags ahead on 34 minutes and they looked in charge and on course for all three points.

But Boateng's dismissal on 70 minutes encouraged Bolton to open the floodgates with three goals in 10 nightmare minutes and Clough said: “That was three points thrown away.

“It was my fault, I should have brought Boateng off when he was on a yellow card.

“I usually would. Andy Garner asked me if I was going to and I said I was going to give it five minutes – but then he goes and makes a tackle like that.

“They will come off in future every time. I really don't trust players ultimately.

“Hiram is not renowned for his tackling so the lesson I have learned tonight is don't wait to make the change.

“For an experienced player to do that when you are on a yellow card is quite incredible.

“It totally changed the game.

“I do think it was a harsh second yellow card – the referee was very inconsistent with his yellow cards this evening.

“Every time we pulled someone back it seemed to be a yellow card yet I saw a couple of Bolton players do the same without the same punishment.”

Stags certainly looked favourites to win as they comfortably defended their 1-0 lead.

“I thought we should have gone on and won it in the first 15-20 minutes of the second half,” said Clough.

“The crowd were very restless and Bolton were running out of ideas a bit with balls going through to Christy Pym.

“That's where good players sense there is an opportunity to go on and win the game and get a second goal.

“I don't think we took enough care in the final third to do that.

“Having said that, at 11 v 11 were were still very comfortable and Bolton had not really had a chance in the second half. Then one player goes and does that.

“They had a spell in which they had one or two chances early on, but we dealt with that.

“It had been a perfect away performance up until the red card and Hiram had scored a great goal.

“All we had to do was look after the goal, play sensibly and with thought and care and we win the game.

“You can always still defend better with 10 men too.”

He added: “We have now lost four league games in a row which is a disgrace considering the four performances we've put in.

“But we have to do absolutely everything right in order to get a result.

“We did 90-odd per cent of it right again tonight but one player has made an incredibly silly decision and it has cost us the game.”

However, Mansfield again take away many positives from this away display at such a big club.

“We have just gone to the top two sides – Wrexham and Wycombe - away and now a top side in Bolton and showed we can stand our ground.

“We went toe to toe with them and I think we can hold our own against these teams and a bit more as well. So the manner of the defeat tonight is hugely frustrating and disappointing.”