Mansfield Town 0
York City 1

THE Stags were plunged back into the relegation mire after a match of four contentious penalty appeals.

The home side had two strong spot kick claims waved away by controversial referee Darren Drysdale, one for a blatant shirt pull on striker Matt Rhead and the other for a handball as the recalled Jamie McGuire burst into the area.

At the other end York were awarded two penalties, the first for a trip by John Dempster and the second for a handball by Ryan Tafazolli. The first was converted by Ryan Bowman, who might have been red carded for a later aerial challenge that left Dempster bloodied, and the second late from Wes Fletcher was saved by Alan Marriott.

York, who stretched their unbeaten run to seven matches and collected their fourth successive away win, offered little going forward and were content to defend for long periods. However, the Stags lacked the quality and guile to create clear chances, being restricted to a few shots from outside the area.

Winger Lindon Meikle earned a surprise recall to the starting line-up as manager Paul Cox made four changes from the side that dramatically beat Newport in injury time four days earlier. McGuire, Martin Riley and James Jennings also started at the expense of the injured Ritchie Sutton and Anthony Howell, and Colin Daniel and Ben Hutchinson.