Mansfield Town hit back from 2-0 down to beat 10-men AFC Wimbledon 5-2 in thriller

A rip-roaring first half saw an out-of-sorts Stags trail 2-0 after 16 minutes but fight back superbly with two goals in nine minutes through a Rhys Oates penalty and a George Lapslie header before the half ended with a spat that saw Welsh star Chris Gunter sent off and Stephen Quinn booked.

Mansfield made them pay just 11 minutes into the second half as they finally got themselves in front with a deflected George Maris goal and Riley Harbottle made it 4-2 with 20 minutes to go as the home side pushed home their advantage.

Will Swan netted his first for the club near the end to complete the rout.

But, with several early season injuries already, Stags will await news on Oates, who went off with an arm injury near the end.

Nigel Clough made five changes to his injury-hit side from the weekend withJames Perch, Ollie Clarke, George Maris, George Lapslie and Jordan Bowery coming in for Kellan Gordon, Elliott Hewitt, Anthony Hartigan, Hiram Boateng and Will Swan.

Boateng was ruled out with a tight hamstring while the other four were on the bench.

After the weekend heatwave the temperatures had dropped significantly and there had been some heavy downpours during the afternoon with the game kicking off under grey, cloudy skies.

The Dons quickly grabbed a fourth minute lead.

Perch won a header on Stags' left touchline, but the ball sailed towards Young-Coombes in space who quickly fed Davison and his low finish from the right of the box zipped underneath Pym into the net.

Pearce was then too high with his far post header from a corner on seven minutes.

A minute later Lapslie turned well and found Oates for a low finish across Tzanev, but an offside flag was already raised.

Soon after Maris took play forward into the Dons' half and gave the ball to Clarke who was wide with a low shot from distance as Stags began to find their feet in the contest.

On 16 minutes Clarke appeared to be fouled near the halfway line, but play was allowed to go on and Young-Coombes whipped in a dangerous cross to the near post where Davison threw himself into a diving header to beat Pym and double his and his side's tally.

Brown pulled a low 20-yard shot wide of the home goal as the Dons continued to enjoy their evening.

On 28 minutes Marsh hacked down Quinn. But, as it appeared the referee would play the advantage with Oates taking on defenders, he blew the whistle and booked the Dons man to Stags' frustration.

But on 31 minutes Stags were thrown a lifeline.

Clarke found Lapslie's run into the right of the box and he was upended by the leg of Currie.

The Dons man was booked and a penalty awarded which saw Oates send the keeper the wrong way and make it 2-1 on 32 minutes.

Two minutes later Mansfield should have been level.

Clarke's clever pass behind the defender sent Bowery to the right by-line. He crossed into the middle where Oates somehow lifted the ball over the gaping goal from close range.

Clarke was again wide from distance as the home side stepped up the hunt for an equaliser with the home fans finally in full voice behind them after those early body blows.

At this point the heavens opened and torrential rain came down.

But on 40 minutes the Stags were on level terms at last.

Bowery put in a superb cross from the right and Lapslie buried a close range header.

In the final minute of the half the visitors were reduced to 10 men as Welsh international Gunter was shown a red card.

Unhappy that Quinn had kicked the ball at him as play was stopped., he reacted by grabbing Quinn round the throat and pushing him to the floor.

Once the dust had settled after both sets of players had run in, Gunter was dismissed and Quinn booked.

McLaughlin was added to the book in the third added minute for a foul and a minute later Brown for delaying the game.

Mansfield were finally ahead for the first time on 56 minutes after a sweep move.

O'Toole and Bowery got the ball to Clarke whose low ball in from the right found Maris whose finish took a deflection and crept in off the inside of the left post.

On 70 minutes it was 4-2 as Stags won their sixth corner of the contest and it was met with a powerful close range header from Harbottle – The Forest loanee's second of the season.

But Stags did suffer a blow on 77 minutes when Oates challenged for the ball and stayed down in discomfort with his arm, eventually substituted by Swan.

Stags also took the break to make further changes and give players some minutes who needed them.

Sub Gorgon fired a rising shot over the angle as we went into the last 10 minutes. Then Ogundere was booked for a foul on 82 minutes for the frustrated visitors.

Lapslie lashed another chance over before, on 87 minutes, he got to the right by-line and crossed hard and low to the far post where sub Swan was waiting for the easy tap-in to round off a memorable night.

STAGS: Pym, McLaughlin (Gordon 71), Harbottle, Clarke (Wallace 77), Bowery (Hewitt 77), Maris, Perch, Quinn (Hartigan 62), Oates (Swan 77), Lapslie, O'Toole. SUBS NOT USED: Flinders, Gale.

AFC WIMBLEDON: Tzanev, Gunter, Brown, Nightingale, Marsh, Young-Coombes (Ogundere HT), Davison (Bartley 83), Assal (Chislett 90), Pearce (Kalambayi 83), Maghoma, Currie (Fisher 62). SUBS NOT USED: Broome, Bendle.

REFEREE: Benjamin Speedie.

ATTENDANCE: 5,709.