Sheffield United 3 Mansfield Town 4: Nigel Clough pens another giant-killing FA Cup story at Bramall Lane
Nigel Clough enjoyed some special FA Cup days at Bramall Lane in his time as manager of Sheffield United a dozen seasons ago - and this one was right up there.
Back in the 2013/14 season, Nottingham Forest and Charlton Athletic were both beaten by Clough’s League One Blades, who also gained a draw and then an away replay win against Premier League Fulham en route to a semi-final at Wembley in which they were eventually seen off, 5-3, by Hull City.
On Sunday, in front of 5,000 travelling Stags fans, Clough added another glorious FA Cup moment to his litany of Bramall Lane memories as this uplifting third-round weekend continued to deliver.
His current League One upstarts Mansfield Town produced a fearless display, scoring two thunderbolts via the boot of Louis Reed in the first half and two counter-attacking gems before the hour mark - the all-action Rhys Oates scoring one and making another - to shock the Lane as the Stags raced into a 4-1 lead.
“It was a wonderful day for us," said Clough. “When you bring 5,000 you have a responsibility to do something. We are so pleased with the quality of the four goals we scored.”
Chris Wilder’s current United crop, a side taking two steps forward, one step back in their bid to climb the Championship table, made them earn it with a stunning goal from Gus Hamer to cancel out Reed’s first and two quick-fire goals from Patrick Bamford and an own goal by Deji Oshilaja.
But over the remaining 25 minutes or so, the Blades couldn’t muster an equaliser as their FA Cup journey ended to at leave them to concentrate solely on mounting a late push for the Championship play-offs but this defeat will have hurt their pride.
“At 4-1 the two goals we gave away were poor," continued Clough, “but then I thought from then on we stuck our chest out and the last 30 minutes we were magnificent, and weren’t just backs to the wall.”
Oates had already tested Davies twice before the Stags took a 13th-minute lead when Reed arrowed a shot from the edge of the area beyond the reach of Davies.
Hamer, who had threatened from close in and been lively from the off, had the Blades level five minutes later with a wondrous strike of his own, collecting the ball with his back to goal and turning in one movement to create the space and unleash a shot past Liam Roberts.
United had been warned again about not picking up Reed on the edge of the area, and when they gave him too much space for a third time on 44 minutes, he punished them again, his half-volley finding the back of the net via a deflection off Blades captain Oliver Arblaster.
If that should have been a wake-up call to the Blades, 12 minutes into the second half the alarm bells were ringing loudly as Mansfield swept into a 4-1 lead.
First Oates tore down the right this time and pulled the ball back for the incoming Lucas Akins to steer into the far corner from 12 yards.
A stunned Wilder threw on three substitutes including Patrick Bamford, who it was announced before kick-off had signed an 18-month deal.
But it got worse before it got better, as Oates got the goal his performance deserved, cutting in from the left too easily past Ben Mee to beat Davies.
United needed a swift response and got one, Bamford poking the ball home from a corner after Mansfield had failed to deal with a towering header that kept the play alive.
Fifteen minutes after Mansfield had scored their third, the Blades had theirs, Town defender Deji Oshilaja capping a madcap quarter of an hour by turning Andre Brooks’ inswinging, right-wing cross past his own goalkeeper via the cross bar.
United now had belief and surged forward, Burrows testing Roberts with a rasping drive.
Mansfield would not be cowed though, Aaron Lewis drilling a shot just wide of the post.
Stags captain Ryan Sweeney produced a superb last-ditch tackle to deny a certain Blades goal as the League One side’s defending became ever more desperate, but ultimately successful.
Sheffield United: A Davies; Hoever (Seriki 56), McGuinness, Mee, Burrows; Chong (Brooks 56), Arblaster (Reidewald 84), Soumare (T Davies 70), Hamer; Ings (Bamford 56), Campbell. Unused substitutes: Faxon, McCallum, Bindon, Cannon.
Mansfield Town: Roberts; Oshilaja, Sweeney, Cargill; Akins, Reed, McDonnell (Lewis (76), Blake-Tracy; Moriah-Walsh (Russel 76), Evans, Oates (Adeboyejo 76). Unused substitutes: Mason, McLaughlin, Hewitt, Dwyer, Bolton, Irow.
Referee: G Ward (Surrey).