Looking to earn their third win on the bounce, Walsall returned to action on Saturday afternoon as they made the trip to Field Mill to take on the in-form Stags, who hadn't lost any of their last six league games.
The first goal of the game arrived via Stags forward George Lapslie as he finished off a fine attacking move to put the ball beyond Walsall goalkeeper Owen Evans and into the back of the net.
Walsall weren't about to go down without a fight and battled their way back onto level terms via on-loan Cambridge United defender Liam Bennett unleashed a powerful effort which caught Stags stopper, Christy Pym, off guard as his clean sheet was dirtied.
Frustratingly for the Saddlers they were unable to convert their leveller to w point let alone a win as second-half substitute Will Swan put his side back into the lead with eight minutes of normal time remaining.
SKY BET LEAGUE TWO
| MANSFIELD TOWN | 2-1 | WALSALL |
| LAPSLIE (15') SWAN (82') |
GOALS | BENNETT (35') |
| QUINN (15') AKINS (82') |
ASSISTS | KNOWLES (35') |
| 64 | POSS (%) | 36 |
| 13 | SHOTS (TOTAL) | 5 |
| 4 | SHOTS (ON TARGET) | 2 |
| 1 | CORNERS | 5 |
| 10 | FOULS | 13 |
| 1 | YELLOW CARDS | 0 |
| 0 | RED CARDS | 0 |
| AT | FIELD MILL |
| ATTENDANCE | 6,821 (796) |
| REFEREE | SAM PURKISS (LONDON) |
MANSFIELD TOWN
Pym, Bowery (Swan, 62' 🟨), Hewitt, Hawkins, Harbottle, McLaughlin, O.Clarke (Hartigan, 62'), Maris (Perch, 90'), Quinn (Boateng, 63'), Lapslie, Akins.
Unused: Flinders, O'Toole, Law
WALSALL
Evans; White, P.Clarke (Gordon, 86'), Monthé; Bennett, Kinsella, Comley (Abraham, 86'), Allen; Hutchinson (Maddox, 81'), Knowles (Williams, 68'), James-Taylor (Cashman, 85')
Unused: Maher, Mukuna
