Mansfield Town 3 Vics 2

VICS snatched defeat from the jaws of a tremendous comeback on Monday.

They were outplayed in the first half and two goals adrift at the break. But they bounced back with a super second-half show and headed into added time level.

Then disaster truck. They only half- cleared a free kick, the ball was returned to the danger zone and Mark Stallard netted from 12 yards.

Two goals by Aaron O’Connor underlined Mansfield’s dominance from the kick off. He scored in 25 and 29 minutes, a prod and a well-struck drive, after earlier being denied by Scott Tynan.

Vics replaced Matt Crowell with Jamie Mullan and the midfielder stormed off the pitch. But Vics were galvanised over their half-time cuppa by manager Dino Maamria and returned to action united.

Allan had a shot blocked by Alan O’Hare from Richie Sutton’s cross before Darryn Stamp headed home Chris Flynn’s inswinging corner on the hour. In the 86th minute Lee Steele bulged the Mansfield net from 25 yards, but they were deflated by Stallard’s strike three minutes into injury time.

Northwich: Tynan, Brown, Welch, Roberts, Sutton (Aspin 57), Byrne, Crowell (Mullan 33), Flynn, Williams (Steele 57), Stamp, Allan.

Attendance: 2,741

Match Rating: 7/10

Vics are at home to crowd-pullers Oxford United on Tuesday (7.45pm) and are at Crawley on Saturday.