20/08/2007 - Mansfield Town 1 Lincoln City 3
Alex John-Baptiste described it as the Jekyll-and-Hyde syndrome.
His manager Billy Dearden simply called it unacceptable.
But whichever way you look at it - the Stags' two league games so far encapsulate everything that has been good and bad about the club in recent years.
The 1-1 draw at Brentford was excellent. While Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Lincoln, and the 4-1 Carling Cup turnover at Oldham, only reveal what a depressing start to the season it's been for Dearden.
Few expect his threadbare squad to challenge for the play-offs this term - but if their lamentable second-half performance is anything to go by, it will be a season of struggle at Field Mill.
That the 3-1 score line flattered the home side says everything about an afternoon that left players and manager alike at a loss to describe what went wrong.
Where to begin?
John Schofield's side might have scored six as they carved Mansfield open time and again with incisive passing and penetrating runs - and it was only last-gasp defending at times which kept the scores respectable.
In response, Mansfield were reduced to shooting from distance - in the case of Mickey Boulding and Stephen Dawson, to some effect - but they rarely got close enough to the Lincoln goal to consistently trouble goalkeeper Alan Marriott.
What a contrast to their hugely heartening opening day performance at Brentford, where they were unfortunate to share the spoils against Terry Butcher's promotion-fancied outfit.
Then it was the Stags who were full of attacking impetus and ideas, with Boulding's strike a skinny return on a plethora of chances.
The striker's second goal of the season on Saturday, came from the penalty spot - and you felt an unopposed effort from 12 yards was the only way Mansfield would get on the score sheet.
Under Dearden, and Peter Shirtliff before him, Mansfield have tantalised and tormented in equal measure.
Capable of odds-spinning performances that suggest they can challenge for the play-offs, all too often their good work is undermined by a lack of consistency. The concern for Dearden is that - while Lincoln have long been a bogey team - this was precisely the sort of match in which his side usually thrive - when they are the underdogs.
Though Schofield's team had been on the back of two tannings in their opening couple of games of the season - losing 4-0 to Shrewsbury and 4-1 to Doncaster - they are still one of the fancied sides in League Two.
And they showed exactly why with Dany N'Guessan, in particular, showing glimpses of a rare talent.
Mansfield in contrast looked devoid of the penetration the Frenchman offered Lincoln.
And while John McAliskey's malleable gate was easy on the eye and Boulding's hot-potato act in the final third made him an irritant to defenders, on too many occasions there was no end product to promising build-up work.
The big problem for Dearden though was a defensive display of such incompetence that it breathed confidence even into an opposition that had conceded eight goals in two games going into the match.
Louis Dodds was afforded VIP treatment when ushered through after only two minutes to put Lincoln ahead.
And after Boulding's spot-kick deservedly restored parity for Mansfield, N'Guessan was immediately allowed to put the visitors back in front with a goal that, from a defensive point of view, stank from start to finish.
From the ease with which he was allowed to advance down the left and cut into the box without challenge - to the flailing leg of Martin McIntosh that inadvertently deflected the cross-cum-shot past Jason White, it was car-crash football.
The execution of Mark Stallard's strike in the second half might have oozed class - but the manner in which Lee Bell relinquished possession in the build-up to the goal did not.
"We all know the performance wasn't good enough," said Baptiste. "Clearly if you give teams a two-goal head start, you're going to lose games.
"The first two goals were very disappointing. The third goal was a good finish, but if you look at all the goals we've had the ball - so if you make mistakes you are going to get punished.
"Maybe he got past me too easily for the second goal and the first goal he's run right through. We need to eradicate the errors because we played well other than the goals.
"It's Jekyll and Hyde. One minute we're brilliant and think we're world beaters and then the next minute we come crashing down. It's consistency. We need to work on that and realise we're not as good as we think we are.
"It's so annoying. On our day we can beat anyone in this league, but it is no good having a good game one week and a bad one the next. We're going to end up in the same position as we did last year."
Many more performances like Saturday's and even that could be a stretch.
james.robson@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk