McKeal Abdullah found the back of the net once again as the forward helped his side pick up a point in Tuesday afternoon’s 1-1 draw against Scunthorpe United at RH Academy.
Right-back Taylor Anderson returned to the young Stags’ starting lineup for the Youth Alliance League fixture alongside the in-form Abdullah, following the pair's involvement on the bench for the first team's 3-1 win at AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.
Louie Turner, who also travelled with Nigel Clough’s squad at the weekend, featured on Mansfield’s bench.
Central-midfielder Charlie Carter was named in Sam Collins’ starting XI following his absence from the weekend's draw at Doncaster.
A bright start for The Iron saw Harry Lewis find himself through on goal in the opening exchanges but Mansfield’s shot-stopper Theo Avery made a strong save to keep the score level.
On 17 minutes, Stags had a brilliant chance to break the deadlock when Anderson curled a superbly weighted ball over Scunthorpe’s defence to pick out Abdullah who fired over Scunthorpe's crossbar.
Mansfield’s attacking midfielder Ronnie Kokkinos started the fixture brightly - following his superb goalscoring display at Doncaster Rovers on Saturday - and came close to finding the opening goal on 22 minutes. The creative playmaker lashed an effort on goal which was saved well by visiting ‘keeper Ewan Oxborough.
Sam Collins’ side were caught out one minute later. Tyrell Sellars-Fleming bundled home the opening goal from close range following a scramble in the box as the away side hit back at growing pressure from Stags.
Despite trailing, Mansfield grew into the game and had several chances to level proceedings. One of the best opportunities of the half fell to captain Anderson who fired over the bar following a neatly threaded pass from Charlie Carter in midfield.
The Stags were rewarded for their hard work two minutes prior to the interval. A venomous ball into the area from the lively Anderson picked out the arriving Abdullah who stabbed home to add another goal to his ever-growing tally.
An end-to-end first-half saw the two sides go in level at the break.
Stags' first chance of the second-half came on 55 minutes when Louis Bonser drove down the wing and cut the ball inside to Carter who spun on the edge of the visitors’ box but hammered a strike over the crossbar.
Abdullah came close to finding his second of the afternoon on 65 minutes when the forward showed exceptional skill to knock the ball beyond a visiting defender and fire a vicious effort on goal which was ultimately saved by Oxborough.
Sam Collins made his only switch of the afternoon on 80 minutes when box-to-box midfielder Finn Flanagan replaced in the engine room by defensive midfielder Charlie Carter.
One of the final opportunities of the game fell to substitute Flanagan on 86 minutes following a rapid counterattack but the midfielder’s effort went narrowly wide from the edge of the box.
Neither side were able to find a winner in the remaining moments of the clash and the points were shared at RH Academy.
STAGS: Avery, Anderson, Maher, Wauchope, Bonser, Whyle, Carter (Flanagan 80), Kruszynski, Kokkinos, King, Abdullah
UNUSED SUBS: Turner, Aynsley-Johnson, Walsh, Warnaby
SCUNTHORPE UNITED: Oxborough, Elliott-Bell, Strouther, Cunningham (Burden-Whittleton 61), Young, Pike, Lewis (Larkin 67), Robertson, Poulter, Sellars-Fleming, Abraham
UNUSED SUB: Murtagh
