Mansfield Town were made to settle for a point this afternoon in a 1-1 draw at Morecambe.
Baily Cargill put Stags ahead with his third league goal of the season on 61 minutes before Charlie Brown cancelled out the opener with a 78-minute finish for the Shrimps.
The Nottinghamshire side remain inside the Sky Bet League Two automatic promotion places.
Nigel Clough made two changes to the side that faced Crewe Alexandra last weekend.
Calum Macdonald replaced Stephen McLaughlin at left-back. Ollie Clarke came into the side in place of Stephen Quinn in midfield. Aden Flint captained Stags after renewing his deal with the club in the week.
The hosts started brightly and crafted the game’s first opening on three minutes when Shrimps’ midfielder Joe Adams slid the ball through to winger Gwion Edwards, who sliced an effort wide and into the side-netting from just inside the box.
Morecambe came close again three minutes later. Adam Mayor’s flighted free-kick delivery from 30 yards dropped inside the Mansfield box and was knocked narrowly wide of the bottom right corner by Jordan Slew’s first-time half-volley from 12 yards.
Stags soon began to settle and won a corner on 11 minutes following a period of possession inside the Morecambe half. Davis Keillor-Dunn’s guided delivery picked out Ollie Clarke at the near post, and his powerful header was deflected narrowly around the post by a Morecambe man.
Mansfield were in again eight minutes later thanks to some good work from Macdonald at left back to play Clarke into the final third. The Stags’ number eight did well to cut inside and shoot only for his effort to deflect off a Morecambe man and loop to the feet of Maris lurking on the edge of the box. The midfielder struck it excellently on the full volley, which looked destined for goal before unfortunately striking the legs of Lucas Akins inside the box.
The hosts had the ball in the back of the net on 34 minutes when Slew converted Mayor’s through-pass but the Mansfield offside trap worked perfectly to deny the Shrimps.
Stags sprung onto the front foot immediately as Keillor-Dunn picked the ball up inside his own half before embarking on a magnificent winding run to shoot from the edge of the box, which was agonisingly tipped onto the crossbar and behind by Shrimps’ stopper Archie Mair.
The Morecambe ‘keeper was in action again two minutes later as Lucas Akins was played in behind the defence to receive the ball on the right side of the box. The forward shifted the ball onto his left foot and curled it at goal for Mair to spill and then gather the effort.
The teams went into half-time level.
The second-half’s first chance came on the hour.
Stags broke quickly with Maris who looked to slot Clarke through on goal before he was felled just prior to receiving the ball, with no foul given.
Stags kept their foot on the gas and made the breakthrough a minute later.
A well-worked passage of play from Mansfield allowed Keillor-Dunn to slide a clever pass into the in-space Cargill who had arrived into the left side of the Morecambe box. The defender controlled it, settled himself and smashed the ball beyond Mair with a powerful left-footed strike to give Stags the lead.
Morecambe soon began to commit players forward and found the leveller on 78 minutes as Charlie Brown tapped in Yann Songo’o’s drilled cross in behind the Stags’ defence at the far post.
Mansfield immediately ramped up the pressure and created a number of half chances, but to no avail.
Stags remain inside the league’s top three ahead of an important home clash with Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday night.
STAGS XI: Pym, Bowery, Flint ©ď¸Ź, Cargill, Macdonald (McLaughlin 46’), Reed, Brunt, Clarke (Quinn 87’), Maris (Lewis 88’), Keillor-Dunn, Akins.
UNUSED SUBS: Flinders, Williams, Swan, Boateng
MORECAMBE XI: Mair, Bedeau, Rawson ©, Songo’o, Adams (Davenport 82’), Mayor, Senior, Slew, Stokes, Taylor, Edwards (Brown 62’)
UNUSED SUBS: Smith, Tutonda, Smith, Melbourne, Threlkeld
REFEREE: Sebastian Stockbridge
ATTENDANCE: 4,387 (1,191 Stags’ fans)
