Ian Evatt left Field Mill a frustrated figure as Wanderers let slip another opportunity to close in in the top six, writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites again failed to make it-back-to-back wins to give their push renewed momentum as they lost 2-1 to the Stags to slip back to 10th spot in the League One table.
And Evatt was disappointed to have to deal with a fourth away defeat of the campaign after Aaron Collins’ 12th goal of the season just before half-time looked as though it may provide the platform for a successful fightback.
“I felt like we would win the game, I genuinely did, when we got that goal back,” said the Wanderers’ boss after his side had allowed Mansfield a two-goal lead after 36 minutes on New Year’s Day.
“I thought we would take over, which we did, and other than that five-minute spell in the first half - the two moments - we controlled the game. But our final-third stuff let us down.
“It's frustrating because the games that we've lost this season, most of them we deserve to lose. We didn't deserve to lose that today. A lot of the performance was pretty good. We just let ourselves down with two really bad goals to concede, and got punished twice heavily, and our attacking play, particularly in the final third, let us down.”
Wanderers had goal-scoring opportunities before and after Mansfield had exploited two defensive lapses to claim the points through strikes from Stephen McLaughlin and Lee Gregory.
But Collins’ effort was the only time they found the net and Wanderers now go to Exeter City on Saturday to reach the half-way stage of the season with ground to make up on the top six.
“We had so much good play to get us to the final third and then our final-third execution, delivery, pass, decision was just completely wrong,” added Evatt, whose side had ended 2024 on a winning note against Lincoln City but then couldn’t back it up in the first of eight games in January.
“The one time we got it all together we scored. We had so many opportunities, so much control and dominance in an away fixture that this one is really frustrating.
“We didn’t to do ourselves any favours today with the scoreboard pressure. Conceding two goals applies that pressure. You know you've got to get back into it which can make you rush your decisions and the fact that we know we need to win games, we know we're not in the position that we want to be and we have to start winning regularly.
“It's just a knock-on effect and that creates some panic in the final third when you need composure, some detail and need to understand what we're trying to do and today we became too rushed at that.
“Most of the performance was pretty good. Moments need to be better and we have been heavily punished in a game which we had full control of. We just have to dust ourselves down and try and respond and go again.”