David Holdsworth was once again left ruing his Mansfield Town side's lack of a killer instinct as they suffered a late defeat at ten-man Cambridge United.

The Stags looked set for at least a point and were pressing for three when Jon Challinor conceded a penalty and Danny Crow converted.

Jon Shaw should have equalised as the Stags won their own spot kick, when Brian Saah clashed with Kyle Perry, only for the former Burton man to miss the target.

But boss Holdsworth believes his players should have already wrapped up the game by then - and were far too sloppy at the back.

"I'm disappointed to say the least. We could have claimed the three points, without doubt," he said.

"The sending off was a telling factor (Dave Partridge for two bookable offences) and it was right by the letter of the law.

"We got the upper hand and were dominating the game. We had the chances but, I keep saying it, we have to put teams to bed.

"Individual errors have cost us again. Their first goal, a designated marker went missing and the second, Andy Nicholas got caught and is not a centre back, but I'm not here to make excuses for that.

"At the end, they counter-attacked us and two players switched off, which led to their penalty.

"For our penalty the lad should be sent off if he punched Kyle Perry. If he pushed him it was the right decision. We should have been level then, but football can be cruel."

Mansfield are now mathematically out of the play-off race following their defeat at the Abbey Stadium and York's 2-1 victory over Altrincham.