And they went so close to upsetting the League Two outfit, with the Stags scoring twice in the last 10 minutes after Tom Allan had given the Reds a 56th minute lead with a towering header from a right-wing corner.

Nathan Caine equalised with a header that powered past George Willis, then on the cusp of full-time a dazzling run ended with Tyrese Sinclair finding the net.

Manager Billy Heath had tried to keep the initial starting X1 on the field for as long as possible, but replacements were necessary towards the end and that disruption probably contributed to Mansfield's recovery.

Allan had almost scored as early as the third minute when his deflected shot whistle inches over, but Jimmy Knowles should surely have given the Stags the lead on 12 minutes, missing a gaping goal from close range after Willis had blocked from Jordan Bowery.

A glancing Bowery header was confidently clutched by Willis, then at the mid-point of the first half Bobby Johnson went close after Shaun Tuton had amost picked out former Mansfield legend Matt Rhead at the back post.

Almost immediately though Faz Rawson struck the crossbar for the visitors following a corner on the right.

Willis almost blotted his copybook when his attempted clearance was charged down by Sinclair, but the Reds' keeper quickly reacted to put off the Stags' striker.

With all the goals still to come Willis made another telling save, this time diving low to his left to thwart Bowery.

It was a good workout for both sides, but it did get a little feisty on occasions, with Ryan Burke shown a yellow card for a foul on Tuton after 22 minutes and the latter also booked 13 minutes later.

We now move onto the final stages of our pre-season schedule with four games left to play, tomorrow night v Burton Albion (7.45pm), Saturday 31st July v Solihull Moors (3pm), Tuesday 3rd August v Grimsby Town (7.45pm), Saturday 7th August v Kings Lynn Town (2pm) before we travel to Blyth for the first National League game on the 14th August.

ALFRETON: Willis; Clackstone, Lund, trialist, Branson, Allan,
Southwell, Evans, Rhead, Johnson, Tuton.

subs: Stewart, Wiley, Molyneux, Grice, Bradley, Reeves + 3 trialists.

MANSFIELD: Stech; J.Clark, Rawson, Cooper, Burke, Ward, Scott,
Law, Sinclair, Knowles, Bowery.

subs: Mason; O.Clark, Gordon,O'Keefe, Anderson, Deakin, Caine.

Referee: Danny Middleton
Attendance: 547