George Maris miss was turning point says manager Nigel Clough as Blackpool hit back to draw with Mansfield Town

Will Evans, Keanu Baccus and Lucas Akins had put Stags 3-1 up after coming from behind.

But an unmarked Maris then blazed over from 10 yards and the Seasiders made him pay with two goals in six minutes, the equaliser carved out by former Stags star CJ Hamilton.

However, Stags will be relieved to avoid equalling the 1947 club record of seven league defeats in a row with this point.

“It was an open game with lots of chances and good attacking play, though not so good defending,” said Clough.

“But we stopped the rot and that's the main thing.

“It's not ideal to concede when you're 3-1 up but Blackpool are capable of doing that and I don't think we did too much wrong today.

“Probably the turning point in the game was the chance George Maris had at 3-1.

“If that goes in then it's game over, but he just put it over the bar.

“But he was as good as anyone on the pitch today.

“You see it in football all the time.

“Straight after, all of a sudden at the far post it dropped to their lad and he tucked it away.

“Their tails were really up then and the home crowd were up.

“But I thought we dealt with everything pretty well and still tried to be a threat ourselves on the break.

“Caylan Vickers hit the post in the second half and George Maris missed his chance and I thought there were a lot of good performances out there today.”

Clough continued: “I thought we controlled the game in the first half – I think it was the first time they had been in our penalty area when they scored.

“Then we showed a lot of character to get the equaliser with a lovely cross and a header from Will Evans.

“Then Keanu rattled us one in from about 25 yards - and it was about time he did!

“Steve Bruce made three substitutions at half-time and changed formation, so we knew Blackpool would liven up a bit.

“We had to adjust a bit to deal with it.

“They went a bit more direct and put it onto us, and unfortunately we just couldn't deal with one ball to the far post. I think we were a bit unlucky the way it dropped for their lad.

“Then CJ's pace down the right caused us the problems for the third goal.”

Overall, Clough was pleased with his side's showing.

“Once they scored that third goal with 13 minutes to go, it's the sort of stadium where you see late goals. So we were happy to get the 3-3 in the end,” he said.

“We played well for the majority of the game and I thought we competed a bit better today.

“George Maris set the tone when he won a header in midfield after 20 seconds.

“We won our tackles and defended well today.

“It's just that Blackpool are the sort of team that can hurt you. They have a lot of good players.

“We could have killed it off with that fourth goal but generally, in the run we were on, it was an exceptionally good performance.

“We have scored three goals away from home and that should ultimately win you the game.

“It hasn't quite today, but I think our fans recognised it was a very good, sound performance and we need a few more of those between now and the end of the season.

“It was the tenacity you need to show away from home.

“We have mixed feelings after being 3-1 up and such a good chance to make it 4-1 and win the game. But in our form, if you'd offered us a 3-3 draw before the game we'd have taken it.

“We now have two home games with Lincoln and Wrexham and we have to take that sort of performance into these two games to get anything at all.”