Paul Stephen reports

Stags sank to only their fourth home defeat of the season as our winless run against the Red Dragons continues.

Mark Jones' first half strike was enough to separate the sides after Mansfield were punished for some lax defending whilst Chris Maxwell was rarely tested in the visitors' goal as the Dragons secured a league double over us this term.

We have now lost to Dean Saunders' men in all four of our encounters since we dropped into the Blue Square Premier.

Manager David Holdsworth named an unchanged starting line up from the one that secured a 2-2 draw at Kettering seven days ago. Somner and Williams came in for Nix and Garner on the bench though, as the Stags aimed to avenge a 2-1 defeat at the Racecourse in early February.

After being serenaded with a rousing rendition of 'Amber and Blue' by director Steve Hymas, the home side got proceedings underway by kicking off towards the North Stand. Chances were at a premium in a tightly-contested opening quarter of an hour and Burgess' direct free kick from 40 yards was easily collected by Maxwell in the visitors' goal on seven minutes before Danny Mitchley won the first corner of the game for Wrexham two minutes later. Jones took it from the right hand side but he never got it past the first defender and Burgess was able to clear it.

On the fifteen minute mark, a Challinor shot from 35 yards was blocked by a hand and a free kick duly given. Kyle Perry stepped up to take the set piece but drilled his effort straight into the wall.

A minute later, Challinor aimed his long throw from the right hand bye-line toward Kyle Perry at the near post where it was headed behind for a corner. Burgess' effort fell to Andy Nicholas at the back post and his header was deflected behind for another corner. This promising spell of pressure came to no avail however, as the ball was cleared to Gary Silk only for him to run it out of play.

Referee Scott Duncan was forced to put his hand in his pocket for the first time in the eighteenth minute when he booked Danny Mitchley for a high-footed tackle on Gary Mills just outside the area. Mills was on his feet quickly to enable Burgess to take the resultant free kick where the ex-Luton man tried an elaborate move to send Gary Silk into a shooting position. As clever as it seemed, its execution was poor and it was over hit to run out of play for a goalkick.

Wrexham earned their second yellow card shortly after when Neil Taylor was booked for his cynical foul on Louis Briscoe when he tripped him on the half way line as he looked to break into Wrexham's half.

The visitors were slowly coming into the game and went close to taking the lead on the half hour mark with their first real chance of the half. Andy Mangan approached the edge of the area and looked to go round skipper Luke Foster who was adjudged to have impeded the ex-Forest Green Rovers frontman and harshly booked for his challenge. Aaron Brown did the honours and whipped in a low free kick which Marriott had fully covered until it clipped the foot of a defender and forced a brilliant reflex save from Stags' custodian when it threatened to creep inside the right hand post.

Looking for the half time lead, Wrexham began to get more adventurous in the final third and Mitchley sent his 30 yard effort a foot over the bar with seven minutes remaining before Mansour Assoumani met Mark Jones' corner kick completely unmarked only six yards out. Thankfully Stags' back four's blushes were spared as his shot fell narrowly wide of the right hand upright.

The home side did not heed the warning posed by Wrexham's near miss though and were made to pay for more poor marking in the 42^nd minute when Mark Jones managed to find the target from eight yards out. O'Leary's left wing cross raced across the area and eluded everyone until reaching Jones on the back post. The Wrexham forward rounded last man Andy Nicholas and then calmly slotted the ball past the helpless Marriott to hand his side the advantage at a critical time just before the half time break.

The sun came out for the start of the second half and the Stags did indeed start brightly as they set about their task of reducing the deficit. A Burgess corner on 47 was headed goalwards by Luke Foster and hacked away to safety before Mills' goalbound free kick was plucked out of the air by Maxwell on 51.

Kyle Perry got the right side of his marker to meet Sturrock's curling cross from the right 10 minutes into the second half and went one on one with the 'keeper but, frustratingly, the flag had gone up on the far side as he was deemed offside.

Holdsworth made his first change of the afternoon shortly after by sending on Jake Speight for Louis Briscoe. This prompted a wave of applause for the oncoming substitute by the faithful who were no doubt mindful of his heroics and last gasp equaliser against Altrincham during our last game here at Field Mill. His impact was felt instantly as he sent a powerful shot just wide of the post from the edge of the area with his first touch of the game.

Kyle Perry was withdrawn for Rob Duffy on 68 as Holdsworth looked for fresh impetus in Stags' front line and in a frenetic period of activity, Speight had his shot cleared off the line by Ashley Westwood before Challinor's header was cleared away in the same manner.

Wrexham were on the back foot and were lucky not to concede when Assoumani failed to deal with a Burgess corner on 71 that Duffy drilled inches over the bar.

Five minutes later Silk pumped a long ball into the area that Maxwell came out to punch away but missed leaving Speight to loop the ball over the stranded 'keeper's head. It fell just wide of the left hand post were Sturrock tried to connect with it but it rolled out of play.

Both managers used the stoppage in play to make substitutions. Dean Saunders replaced Mangan and Mitchley with Gareth Taylor and Adrian Cieslewicz whilst Holdsworth used up his final change to throw on Ryan Williams in place of Andy Burgess.

Content with their lead, the visitors defended in large numbers as they soaked up all that Stags could throw at them in the final 10 minutes. Sturrock sent his looping effort wide on 89 just before Foster's shot was brilliantly parried away by Maxwell.

A lacklustre five minutes of injury time passed without incident as Wrexham made sure the points would go back to North Wales after securing a fourth away win of the season.

Sponsors' man of the match: Gary Mills

Attendance: 2,520 (away 152)

Team: Marriott, Silk, Foster, Brough, Nicholas, Briscoe (Speight '57), Challinor, Mills, Burgess (Williams '78), Perry (Duffy '68), Sturrock.