Mansfield Town

The Stags had more possession and more chances than their counterparts, but were left to rue some poor finishing in front of goal.

After a goalless first half, Peterborough went ahead against the run of play after the re-start as James Treanor capitalised on a defensive mistake and slotted the ball past stranded Stags’ ’keeper Sam Wilson.

Mansfield got proceedings underway on a chilly afternoon in North Nottinghamshire and following an initially quiet start to the game, they gradually took charge of things in the middle of the park, with Joe Bayne and Joe Fitzpatrick looking lively.

Debutant Tom Marriott had a golden opportunity on the quarter-hour mark, when he latched onto a through ball, but visiting shot-stopper William Bates came out on top in the subsequent one-on-one.

Although the Stags kept their foot on the gas, they almost fell behind against the run of play soon afterwards, as Wilson was forced to tip over a powerful 30-yard attempt which looked goalbound.

Mansfield continued to be the more dangerous of the two teams leading up to half-time, but the impressive Marriott was unable to take advantage of a good opening just before the break – curling a shot narrowly wide of the ‘keeper’s left-hand post.

Early in the second half, the visitors then scored what proved to be the decisive goal as Keiron Lane’s attempted backwards header fell short, and Treanor nipped in to sandwich the ball past Wilson and into the bottom-left corner.

Despite the setback, Mansfield played some decent football and forced a plethora of opportunities as Peterborough were pushed back.

George Holloway hit a shot straight at the ‘keeper, whilst just a couple of minutes later, substitute Louis Danquah went even closer with a curling 20-yard effort which was palmed away to safety.

Mansfield threw everything forward in the closing stages with Blaize Punter going closest to an equaliser in the dying seconds, but it wasn’t enough as the visitors held on to secure a fortuitous away win.