Mansfield Town halt losing run in six-goal thriller at Blackpool

Stags had lost six league games in a row – seven in all competitions – and were trying to avoid a seventh league loss on the trot that would equal the club's worst ever run from back in early 1947.

Instead they roared back to form with a superb display at Bloomfield Road and ended up with the feeling of two points dropped after coming from behind to lead 3-1 with only 19 minutes of the game left.

They will look back with regret on a huge miss by George Maris that would have made it 3-1 and put the game to bed.

Bizarrely, it was an eighth successive home draw for the Tangerines.

Mansfield had started the afternoon on the front foot only to see Sonny Carey put Blackpool ahead on 19 minutes with a well-taken finish.

But, despite such a bitter blow in such a bad run of results, Stags, to their credit, kept their chins up, regained dominance and netted twice in five minutes through Will Evans and Keanu Baccus, and by half-time they could have been out of sight with further chances.

Caylan Vickers shaved the home post on the restart.

But Mansfield then had to weather some inevitable home pressure before Lucas Akins made it 3-1 on 64 minutes.

Maris missed an absolute sitter from 10 yards soon after and the Seasiders made them pay as Ashley Fletcher pulled one back with 19 minutes to go and former Stags winger CJ Hamilton then conjured up an equaliser for Lee Evans on 77 minutes – two goals in six shattering minutes.

Desperately searching for a winning combination while still missing key players, boss Nigel Clough made seven changes from the side that lost at Leyton Orient on Tuesday.

Out went Aden Flint, Alfie Kilgour, Calum Macdonald, Jordan Bowery, Aaron Lewis, Hiram Boateng and Jordan Rhodes.

Into the side went George Williams, Elliott Hewitt, Stephen McLaughlin, Maris, Baccus, Evans, and, back from suspension, Baily Cargill.

Rhodes is on loan from Blackpool so unable to play against his parent club.

Mansfield went three at the back with Akins and McLaughlin as wing backs and Evans as the striker with a midfield diamond and Vickers at the spearhead of it behind Evans.

Former Stags star Hamilton began the afternoon on the bench for the Seasiders, who made three changes.

Blackpool had only been beaten once in their last 14 league games but, at the same time, had drawn their last seven home games and not won at home in their last nine attempts in the league, stretching back to 28th September.

McLaughlin won a free kick to the left of the box in the third minute from which Maris saw his shot hit team mate Akins.

Stags successfully cleared the home side's first corner on 10 minutes before Cargill needed treatment for a hand injury, sustained in a sliding challenge on the touchline.

On 15 minutes Stags latched onto a loose ball by Apter and Evans had a shot blocked before Maris' follow-up from distance failed to trouble the keeper much in stopping and holding.

Baccus then fed Evans for another blocked shot as Stags warmed to their task.

Instead, it was the home side who broke through on 19 minutes.

Apter was the architect on the right as he spotted the run of Carey into the box ahead of him and slipped it into his path, Carey then stroking a low finish across Pym and inside the far post.

However, Mansfield heads did not drop and they were level five minutes later.

Vickers sent in a long cross from the left and no one picked up Evans as he nodded home inside the right post from 10 yards.

Evans almost scored a memorable solo effort on 28 minutes.

Picking up the ball in his own half, he burst down the right and simply kept going, cutting inside for a low shot that deflected just wide.

But Mansfield were ahead on 29 minutes.

Cargill played a pass inside to Baccus in the centre of the park and the Australian international looked up and picked his spot with a screamer of a finish from 25 yards inside the right post for his second goal for the club.

On 32 minutes a scramble in the Stags box ended with Husband firing goalwards and Cargill heading clear just in front of Pym.

A great Mansfield move on 32 minutes ended with Vickers seeing his low finish deflect wide as the visitors tried to turn the screw.

Three minutes later Vickers got on the end of a Baccus cross but, at point blank range, could not get a clean enough contact to force it home as it looped up off him for the keeper to save.

With another big away following behind them, Stags were now back in full flow and dominating the game.

On 40 minutes Evans found himself one on one with Tyrer as he ran onto a lofted forward pass, but the keeper stood his ground to drive him wider and Evans then fired into the sidenetting at his second attempt.

Silvera was too high with a header from six yards from an Apter cross on 42 minutes as the home side went up a gear in their hunt for an equaliser before the break.

The home side changed shape and made three substitutions for the second half.

But Vickers came desperately close to extending the visitors' advantage three minutes in as, from Reed's pass he cut in from the left and saw his low finish clip the far post on its way out for a goalkick.

The home side began to wind up some inevitable pressure and Carey and Morgan sliced hopeful efforts wide from the edge of the box while Coulson also sent a first time shot into the Stags' sidenetting.

There was some respite for the under-pressure visitors on 62 minutes as Maris sent Vickers into the box on the left, but his finish was easily blocked by Casey.

But Mansfield did extend their advantage on 64 minutes.

Vickers and Baccus worked the ball left to right across the edge of the box to Akins, who switched onto his left foot and buried a low finish inside the far post, giving Tyrer no chance.

It was a superbly-worked goal against the run of play.

Maris then wasted a golden chance to net a fourth on 67 minutes.

Vickers won the ball and burst into the right of the box and played a low pass to his left which Evans cleverly stepped over, leaving Maris with the goal at his mercy 10 yards out only to see him blaze over.

Soon after Maris had another shot headed over for a corner as the visitors now looked back on control of proceedings.

However, Stags were made to pay for the Maris miss on 71 minutes as the home side pulled one back.

Two of the half-time subs combined as Gabriel crossed long from the right and Fletcher, on the far side of the six yard box, was able to poke past Pym.

Five minutes later Evans crossed from the right and Pym was forced to make a save from a Fletcher header.

But he could do nothing on 77 minutes as Hamilton reached the right byline and then crossed low for Evans to turn home the equaliser from six yards.

A tremendous strike by Coulson deflected inches wide on 81 minutes with the home fans now in full roar.

Reed made a superb tackle to halt Hamilton in the box after Macdonald had given the ball way and the home side had transitioned quickly.

Mansfield made another double change for the tense last six minutes with Waine and Bowery on for Evans and Vickers.

The game went into four added minutes in which Mansfield held firm to the point that could so easily have been all three on the day.

BLACKPOOL:Tyrer, Husband, Evans, Morgan, Carey, Baggott (Coulson HT), Silvera (Hamilton HT), Casey, Ennis, Offiah (Gabriel 55), Apter (Fletcher HT). SUBS NOT USED: O’Donnell, Onomah, Beesley.

STAGS: Pym, Williams (Flint 79), Hewitt, Cargill, McLaughlin (Macdonald 72), Reed, Baccus, Maris (Boateng 79), Vickers (Bowery 84), Akins, Evans (Waine 84). SUBS NOT USED: Flinders, S. Quinn.

REFEREE: Elliot Bell.

ATTENDANCE: 10,309.