Mansfield Town

Adam Murray's Mansfield, who are also set to field another select XI later today at Carlton Town, had the best of the early chances.

A strike from new signing Pat Hoban was cleared off the line in the second minute and the Irishman then cracked the woodwork from outside the box, with Yussuf seeing his two follow-up efforts saved by keeper Steve Hernandez.

The home side then punished Stags, taking the lead in the sixth minute, when CJ Hamilton was robbed of possession as striker Brissett picked up the ball and lobbed Scott Shearer from 25 yards out with a fine strike.

As the game progressed, Stags asserted themselves on their non-league counterparts, with captain Adam Chapman zipping the ball about from his holding midfield position. 

And it was Chapman who had a powerful free-kick blocked from 25 yards as the pressing continued on the home goal.

The pressure told in the 34th minute, as midfielder Mitchell Rose hit the equaliser for Stags with a low hard strike from 30 yards out that nestled in the right hand side of Hernandez’s goal.

Not long after the restart, Yussuf and Hoban combined, with the latter finding the back of the net, only for the linesman to put up his flag for offside. 

On 43, Hamilton had a shot spilled by Hernandez with Yussuf then knocking it wide from the resulting follow-up.

The Stags came out flying at the start of the second period as Yussuf got beyond his man from a Louis Danquah throw-in before hitting a right-footed effort into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal to give Mansfield the lead on 52 minutes.

Soon after, James Baxendale’s short corner to CJ Hamilton saw the latter fire over the angle from the right flank.

A string of Stags' youth team players then took to the pitch from the hour-point onwards, as the men in amber and blue maintained their lead, keeping the ball well and applying pressure to the Clipstone backline.

First team coach Karl Hawley replaced the impressive Hoban, while Tyler Blake, who only yesterday signed professional terms, entered the fray to partner Hawley up top.

The game was punctured by changes and stoppages as the match headed towards its conclusion.

With the Stags first XI now completely changed from that which started the first half, Clipstone’s Josh Nodder advanced towards the penalty area before dinking a cute pass to Reece Littlejohn who squeezed a shot underneath a Stags' youth keeper to grab an 82nd minute equaliser.

It was the last chance in a game which Stags enjoyed the lions share of possession, before another chosen XI prepare to take on Carlton Town at 4pm today.