Lucas Akins bagged a brace and fellow forward Rhys Oates also found the net as Stags beat Oldham 3-0 at Boundary Park.
Akins continued his fine pre-season form and Oates bent a wonderful hit into the top right-hand corner to complete a good day’s work in Greater Manchester.
Stags started brightly and dominated the ball in the first couple of minutes, but it was Oldham who carved out the game’s first chance in the third minute.
Mansfield goalkeeper Christy Pym parried an 18 yard effort from Mike Fondop, but Joe Nutall could only skew the follow-up wide from the left of the box.
Three minutes later, Oldham’s Liam Hogan lashed off target from a corner after Stags failed to clear.
Mansfield should have broken the deadlock after ten minutes.
Ex-Latic Davis Keillor-Dunn intercepted a sloppy in-field pass from Mark Kitching. And after advancing goalwards, George Maris was the recipient of a square pass, before being denied by goalkeeper Magnus Norman.
Within a heartbeat, Keillor-Dunn let Oldham off the hook with an off target effort from close range.
Stags’ frontman Lucas Akins then drew another smart stop from Norman before Fondop headed into the ground and over the bar at the other end.
After 18 minutes, Devarn Green sped away on the right flank before clipping a good ball into the area, but Dan Ward couldn’t make the most of it and Pym went untroubled.
Stags breathed a sigh of relief after 20 minutes. Jordan Bowery miscontrolled 25 yards from his goal, allowing Fondop to intervene and find Ward, who broke into the box before slicing wide.
On 28 minutes, Keillor-Dunn sent a wonderful throughball beyond the home defence towards the onrushing Rhys Oates, but his touch let him down and Norman got down to gather.
Louis Reed and Callum Johnson both had shots blocked from outside the box following promising build-up play by the Stags, before Mansfield took the upper hand after 34 minutes through Lucas Akins.
Johnson did well on the wing to pull the ball back to Akins, who made no mistake from 20 yards as he rifled an effort inside the right-hand post.
At the break, Hiram Boateng replaced George Maris in midfield.
And Boateng made a real impact, assisting Stags’ second goal of the afternoon in the 53rd minute.
Receiving the ball on the goalline outside of the box, Boateng whipped it low to Akins who steered it with aplomb into the far corner from eight yards to double Stags’ advantage.
Mansfield turned up the heat and Oates got involved in the scoring act five minutes later to extend Mansfield’s lead.
The Stags’ frontman picked his spot superbly from the edge of the box, arrowing a right-footed effort which zipped into the top right hand corner.
Akins should have had his hat-trick on the hour when Boateng again delivered from the left, this time aerially, but Akins nodded over from seven yards.
Defender Alfie Kilgour started Mansfield’s next move with a brilliant challenge midway inside his own half, which ended with Akins striking from the right of the box into the gloves of Norman.
On 66 minutes, Pym turned away Dan Ward’s venomous effort and substitute Alex Reid blazed the follow up over the bar with the target at his mercy.
Oldham forward Reid robbed the otherwise-excellent Kilgour of possession midway inside the Stags’ half. And after touching it forward towards the box, Pym came to Stags’ rescue on 71 minutes when he showed real anticipation to race out of his area to clear.
On 78 minutes, Anthony Hartigan was introduced for fellow midfielder Louis Reed.
Following the restart, Akins showed fine control on the right to lay back for Keillor-Dunn, whose curling drive couldn’t test Norman.
Stags were hunting for a fourth goal and Aaron Lewis almost found the net on 84 minutes.
Positioned centrally outside the box, Lewis saw his low attempt blocked before Norman got down low to save Lewis’ second strike from inside the area.
With two minutes to spare, George Cooper was replaced by Jordan Bowery in defence.
Stags will next face Matlock in their final pre-season friendly on Tuesday.
OLDHAM: Norman, Kitching, Hogan, Hobson, Shelton, Fondop (Reid H/T) Nuttall (Willoughby 77), Ward, Sheron, Green, Raglan
UNUSED SUBS: Hudson, Tollitt, Gardner, Hope, Sutton, Couto
STAGS: Pym, Johnson, Kilgour, Bowery (Cooper 88), Macdonald, Lewis, Reed (Hartigan 78) Maris (Boateng H/T), Keillor-Dunn, Akins, Oates
UNUSED SUB: Turner
REFEREE: Ben Wyatt
ATTENDANCE: 2,425 (213 Stags’ fans)
