By Joe Jones
Notts County were left to rue a host of missed chances as they were beaten 3-1 by Mansfield Town in Saturday's derby at Field Mill.
The Magpies began brightly and came close to scoring within the first 20 minutes as, 10 minutes in, Jonathan Forte cut in from the right and forced goalkeeper Scott Shearer to turn the ball onto the near post and out for a corner.
In the 18th minute, the home side failed to clear a free-kick and Jon Stead turned well to fire goalwards, only for Stags captain Lee Collins to head off the line.
Despite their first-half pressure, Notts were level at the break and, on 54 minutes, substitute Matt Green scored with his first touch when he reached a Pat Hoban knockdown in the box and saw his effort find the net off a deflection off Richard Duffy.
It seemed like John Sheridan's charges had rescued a point when Alex Rodman scored with another deflected finish from a Vadaine Oliver ball eight minutes from time.
But in the 90th minute, Matt Tootle tripped Mal Benning in the box and Green dispatched the penalty high into the top-left corner to register his brace and put Mansfield within touching distance of a win.
In fact, there was still time for fellow sub Darius Henderson to outmuscle two defenders in the box and steer home his first goal for the club.
The result means that County's run of four straight away wins has been brought crashing to a halt.
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