LOMAS ON STAGS: Mansfield Town fail to learn from history and repeat it as the old saying goes

Stags have largely been in good form of late, playing their usual attractive brand of football when able and digging in and being hard to beat when it’s not come off.

So the 3-2 defeat at struggling Crawley Town was a blow but one in which Mansfield had no one to blame but themselves.

They knew Crawley had just been given a bounce by sacking their manager and then won twice in a few days under interim boss Lewis Young.

And, while they would have wanted to come out on the front foot, a few minutes of staying strong and aware of any early pressure should have been a given.

Instead they were immediately pushed back, survived a penalty appeal and conceded a goal within 61 seconds of mayhem.

Clearly a bit shellshocked, Nigel Clough’s men conceded another goal on 13 minutes and at that point the game could have gone either way.

But Mansfield refused to crumble and go under and showed all the qualities we know they have and will need this season to fight back and level while Will Swan then missed a great chance to put them ahead at the break.

As they came out for the second half the one thing you would imagine they had learned from the first half was be strong early on and do not concede quickly as that would give the impetus back to Crawley.

So to allow the home side a goal inside the first minute once again was simply inexplicable.

Like a prize fighter, Stags had taken two heavy blows in the first half and got up again. But this early blow proved one too many and they were unable to recover. They must learn their lesson and move on.