13/02/2008 - Mansfield Town 1 Morecambe 2
This was a place the Stags had been to four times since Christmas.
Four times they had claimed superb wins, four times they had a chance to secure back-to-back victories for the first time. Four times they had failed, losing every time.
Manager Billy Dearden had called for the yo-yoing to stop. After hauling themselves off the bottom and out the relegation zone in League Two with a memorable win at Wycombe on Saturday, he challenged his side to stay there.
No more false dawns, this was the time to make real headway in preserving their Football League status.
But to Dearden's dismay, the same miserable pattern continued as his side self-destructed early on to gift Morecambe victory.
Stags put in arguably their worst 45 minutes of the season in the first half, going behind early and gifting two goals.
Shambolic defending and a distinct lack of fight saw Mansfield fail to record back-to-back victories for the fifth time since Christmas and a tenth time overall this campaign.
The result, déjà vu as the Stags slipped straight back into the bottom two and by tonight, when Wrexham play, they could be bottom once again.
It was the worst possible start for Mansfield. Six minutes in Carl Baker struck a free kick from the byline on the right and at the back post Jim Bentley stormed in and, unmarked, headed back across goal into the far corner from eight yards out.
A huge question mark hung over the marking and another set piece almost cost Stags soon after, Garry Thompson's low fizzing corner from the right finding former Stag Dave Artell but the defender fired over.
A disjointed and hapless Stags continued to make problems for themselves and as the confidence from the weekend win quickly ebbed away, Dan Martin was caught in possession.
Baker left the full-back for dead and he crossed dangerously to the back post but Johnny Mullins turned behind for a corner.
But from it, the Stags misery was compounded. The corner was half cleared at the second attempt by Jefferson Louis but only to Craig Stanley.
The midfielder sent a curling cross to the edge of the six-yard box where Matthew Blinkhorn lost his marker, stooped low and headed into the bottom corner.
The crowd were quickly losing all patience as only a series of offsides thwarted the wave of Morecambe attacks.
Shaky was a polite description of the Mansfield defending and only a Louis shot from distance and then a cheeky overhead kick just over offered any hope.
But when it required a cool head, another Stags player would add his name to the list of awful, needless passes.
Booed off at half time, the restart saw a different Stags, Chris Wood on for Martin and a reshuffled back line.
Mansfield forced two corners in quick succession and after going close once, Hamshaw picked out Bell from a corner. And after taking it down with his right foot, he powered a stunning left foot shot into the top corner from 20 yards, his first for the club.
It fired up the crowd and Mansfield as Boulding whizzed a shot from similar distance just past the post.
The club's top scorer then burst down the right, into the box but could only poke the ball back to Shwan Jalal as he was knocked off balance.
The opening 15 minutes saw Dearden's side demonstrate a fighting quality sadly missing earlier but it was too little too late.
Boulding teed up Louis with a cross from the left but he placed his header over the bar then put a low shot wide.
Stags substitute Ian Holmes could have grabbed an equaliser in the fifth minute of injury time as he raced on to a Louis knock- down but stabbed it wide.
At the final whistle, Mansfield were booed off again and the early second-half fight-back could not mask what had unfolded in the opening 45 minutes.
Now it is five home league defeats on the spin. The truth is unless they rectify their form at Field Mill, the Stags will go down. They have to show the stomach for the fight when it is needed most. Time is running out.