Ten-man Mansfield Town were forced to settle for a point as they played out a 0-0 draw with Newport County AFC.
James Perch was dismissed on 59 minutes following two bookings.
The Exiles failed to fully capitalise on the veteran defender’s sending off and took a point back to South Wales as Mansfield’s superb unbeaten home record continues.
The Stags made three changes from the XI that lost 3-2 at Crawley Town on Saturday.
James Perch, Kieran Wallace and Hiram Boateng came into the side in place of Riley Harbottle, Jordan Bowery and Will Swan.
Meanwhile, the visitors arrived unchanged from their 1-0 win at home to Colchester United.
On three minutes, Newport’s Will Evans latched onto Anthony Hartigan’s under-hit back pass. County’s frontman could only find the gloves of Christy Pym with a tame effort.
The Stags came close 11 minutes in after a superb Elliott Hewitt cross was met by George Maris who had rose highest. Unfortunately, the midfielder’s effort was placed just wide of Joe Day’s right-hand post.
Six minutes later, County’s Scot Bennett almost found the top corner as his volley from inside the area crashed into the side-netting.
With half an hour played, both sides had cancelled each other out and the game had not yet come alive, with chances rare to come by.
With five minutes remaining in the first half, James Perch received the first yellow card of the match for a foul on Cameron Norman just inside the home side’s half.
George Lapslie had a couple of opportunities at the end of the first half, but was unable to get his shots away.
With clear-cut chances hard to come by in the opening 45 minutes, boss Nigel Clough made a substitution during the break as Kieran Wallace was replaced by Jordan Bowery.
Early in the second-half, the Ironsides almost took the lead when Priestley Farquharson headed goalward but Pym was on hand to make a fine save and keep the match level.
Moments later, it was Mansfield who almost struck home the advantage when Hiram Boateng played in Maris but the former Cambridge midfielder couldn’t get his strike right and placed straight down the throat of Day.
Just shy of the hour, Exiles’ captain Mickey Demetriou was awarded the second booking of the match for a strong challenge on the determined Elliott Hewitt.
The away team made their first change of the match in the 58th minute as James Waite made way for Aaron Wildig.
No less than a minute after the change, the Stags found themselves down to ten men after Perch was shown a second yellow card for a foul 25 yards from his own goal.
The former Nottingham Forest defender brought down Omar Bogle who had got ahead of his marker and looked set to charge at goal.
Forward Will Swan was brought on in the 63rd minute in place of Hiram Boateng.
In the period which followed the untimely dismissal, the amber and blue did well to frustrate Newport and limit them to half chances.
County were forced into a change with 66 minutes played as Evans pulled up injured and was replaced by Thierry Nevers.
John-Joe O’Toole entered the field of play in place of Hartigan in a bid to help his team keep the back door shut.
Although they had a man more, the visitors found it difficult to fashion a clear-cut chance late on.
Pym then showed good bravery to come out and tip away a cross in the 87th minute as Mansfield looked to hold on.
Kellan Gordon came on for the sponsor’s Man of the Match, George Maris in the final change made by Nigel Clough in an attempt to secure what would be a good point considering the circumstances.
Inside six minutes of stoppage time, the ball bounced up invitingly for Scot Bennett, but he couldn’t take the chance to write his name in lights as he sliced the ball over the bar.
There was a big roar from the home faithful as Stags won a last-minute corner but unfortunately, Gordon couldn’t get the cross quite right.
It looked as though Bogle may have snatched all three points late on when he headed on from a corner but it sailed wide of the mark.
Nathan Moriah-Welsh was cautioned deep into stoppage time for a reckless, late tackle on Gordon.
The match ended level and leaves Mansfield in fourth place – continuing a sequence of just one league defeat at One Call Stadium in over a year.
STAGS: Pym, Hewitt, Hawkins, Perch, Wallace (Bowery HT), Hartigan (O’Toole, 83), Clarke, Marris (Gordon, 89), Boateng (Swan, 63), Lapslie, Akins.
UNUSED SUBS: Flinders, Law, Gale.
NEWPORT: Day, Clarke, Farquharson, Demetriou, Norman, Lewis, Bennett, Moriah-Welsh, Waite (Wildig, 58), Bogle, Evans (Nevers, 66)
UNUSED SUBS: Townsend, Dolan, Drysdale, Willmott, Collins.
REFEREE: Samuel Barrott
ATTENDANCE: 5,624 (115 away fans)
