27/08/2007 - Morecambe 3 Mansfield Town 1
Morecambe may be the birthplace of Britain's greatest comic talent, but Saturday's visit was no laughing matter for Mansfield or their fans.
John Eric Bartholomew took for his stage surname from his home town and, together with sidekick Ernie Wise, became a massive television hit in the 1970s.
But even a DVD of their best shows would have struggled to raise a smile on the Stags supporters' bus as it returned home, so poor were the Stags once again.
The hope was the previous week's debacle against Lincoln was just a one off, a bad day at the office.
However, it quickly became clear there was more slapstick to come from the visitors - and the joke was firmly on them.
The most worrying thing is Morecambe are not going to be the best side in League Two this season by a long chalk.
Yet they were still far too good for Mansfield who, appropriately for the venue, were all at sea.
If the Stags were to put in this kind of performance in their next away game at Peterborough in just under two weeks' time, the scoreline could easily be doubled.
Because, as boss Billy Dearden knew only too well, Mansfield's defending was awful.
Confidence could not have been high in the back four after letting in four at Oldham and three against Lincoln.
Even so, those players have enough ability and experience to be handling teams better than they are at the moment.
Every time the Shrimps put the ball into the box, Mansfield seemed to be at panic stations.
That state of affairs is bad enough, but add to that glaring individual errors and it is not hard to work out how such a bad defeat came about.
As he will be well aware, goalkeeper Jason White should have taken a routine cross from Garry Thompson as Morecambe ventured forward for the first time in the fifth minute.
Instead, he somehow pushed the ball back into his own net to gift the hosts an early lead and spark a barrage of abuse for the Mansfield followers behind him.
It was the concession of yet another early goal - just like in all their other games so far this season - and once again left the side with an uphill battle.
As against Lincoln, though, the Stags did manage to find an equaliser in the 40th minute after going close with a couple of half-chances.
Morecambe keeper Joe Lewis showed White was not the only keeper prone to a mistake as he dallied too long on ex-Stag David Artell's back pass. When he eventually tried to clear, Michael Boulding charged down his kick and the ball flew into goal.
But, just like the week before, they undid all their hard work by falling behind again a minute before the break.
White was again culpable as Craig Stanley's volley flew under him when he should have made a save but Jake Buxton ought to have cleared the long ball forward in the first place.
Not long after the restart came another mistake that was to put the kibosh on Mansfield's hopes of a comeback.
Gareth Jelleyman nibbled at Thompson in the 51st minute as the Shrimps man swept past him but then crunched into him in the box and a penalty was duly awarded. Carl Baker converted with the minimum of fuss.
From then on there was only ever going to be one winner, giving former Manchester United player Sammy McIlroy's side their first win since promotion from the Conference.
Although Mansfield's defence was clearly at fault, the midfield should not be immune from criticism either.
Too often Stephen Dawson and Lee Bell were caught advancing up the pitch together, leaving little in the way of protection for the men behind them. That is where Jonathan D'Laryea's calming influence is sorely missed - and why Dearden may look to introduce new blood in that area before Wednesday's permanent transfer deadline.
After a game like this it is hard to find Mansfield positives, but there were one or two out there - if you looked hard enough.
The Stags did create a fair few openings and while Michael Boulding also made it three goals in three League Two starts in 2007-2008 and continued to show his pace can be a useful weapon.
Those things merely paper over the cracks, though, because there is no getting away from the fact massive improvement is needed.
If things at the back are not remedied quickly, the prospect of playing in the Blue Square Premier League next season is going to become an increasing concern.
matt.halfpenny@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk