07/04/2008 - Mansfield 2 Barnet 2
Unsuccessful Grand National punters were not the only ones left ruing a lack of staying power on Saturday - Mansfield fans felt exactly the same way.
While many at Aintree were left disgruntled as their horses fell away, so the majority of those at Field Mill bemoaned a home side who ran out of steam in the closing stages.
For the biggest part of this game, the Stags were in total command and on course for a second home win inside five days after cantering into a 2-0 lead. They then had good two good chances, both falling to Jefferson Louis, to put themselves out of sight.
But from there, Mansfield failed to stay the pace and fell at the final hurdle of the last 20 minutes. And the visitors could even have pipped the Stags at the post, with only a goal-line clearance from Matt Hamshaw denying them all three points.
It was a hugely frustrating end to the afternoon for the supporters who were left with a feeling of what might have been. Even though the match ended all square, for those following the Stags it felt more like a defeat.
Whether the Mansfield players thought they had done enough, or they did not have the legs to keep up the high tempo of their early play, only they will know.
But after being in total control, they were suddenly on the back foot and unable to cope. Whatever the reason, it underlined that at this level of football, you can never take anything for granted, no matter how seemingly one-sided a game appears.
It was against Barnet last season that the Stags booked their place in the Football League for another campaign with a 2-1 April victory, and with three of the Bees' regular back four - Ian Hendon, Ismail Yakubu and Sagi Burton - out injured, they had every reason to go into the match with confidence.
In the early stages it was clear Stags had a great opportunity to post two successive victories for the first time in more than a year with the makeshift Barnet rearguard at sixes and sevens.
Johnny Mullins was inches from scoring as he missed a header from Matt Hamshaw's corner in the third minute.
Not long afterwards, Louis failed to read another Hamshaw cross, this time from the right. But a goal looked increasingly on the cards and arrived in the 14th minute courtesy of Michael Boulding's first in five games - and 22nd of the season.
The striker played a neat one-two with Louis before steering the ball wide of keeper Lee Harrison and a defender to slide home. The breakthrough encouraged Stags but the closest they came to a second goal was a shot from Hamshaw that was just over the crossbar.
After the break, Barnet enjoyed some early possession and Muggleton made a decent save to deny Albert Adomah. But Mansfield were creating openings at the other end and doubled their advantage with a smart piece of opportunism by Hamshaw.
After controlling a long pass, he flicked the ball over his marker and lobbed the advancing Harrison for his first goal since the 1-0 win at Chester in January. More home pressure followed and Louis twice went close, first not getting enough on Arnold's cross and then seeing another header pushed on to a post by Harrison.
There was no cause to believe those near misses would matter. Barnet had hardly had a kick going forward.
But all the changed in the 68th minute as an unlikely comeback was triggered by a triple substitution from Paul Fairclough that left him wondering why he had not been more attacking from the start. Anthony Thomas, Adam Birchall and Jason Puncheon were introduced and within minutes they had stung the Bees into action.
Thomas cracked home a stunning drive from the edge of the box less than two minutes after taking the field. Then, Puncheon struck the post from a 77th minute free-kick and former Stag Birchall reacted quickest to fire home from close range.
It was the second time he had come back to haunt the Stags after scoring against them in North Notts last year - and his jubilant celebrations suggested he was pleased to prove a thing or two.
Stags manager Paul Holland did his best to stay positive after watching his side implode within sight of their first back-to-back victories of the season.
He pointed out that the Stags had gained a point on most of their rivals, that the draw had moved them to within three points of Notts County and that the team were now three games unbeaten.
But really it was hard to look past just what a massive opportunity missed this was.
With most of their fellow strugglers losing, a victory would have really but Mansfield back in with the pack.
Now, though, they have once again given themselves plenty to do and the two points dropped means a win from one of their two away games in the next week is almost certainly a must.
One thing is for sure, there are still plenty of twists and turns to come in the battle to stay up as clubs such as Dagenham and Chester are slowly sucked in.
And that means, like all the best Grand Nationals, the race for survival could be a photo finish.