DARLINGTON’S weaknesses were exposed again when they were beaten 5-2 at Field Mill to leave them above the Conference bottom four on goal difference.
Quakers played some good enterprising football at times, but they were beaten by the powerful Mansfield forwards, one of whom, Matt Green, scored a hat trick to take his goals tally for the season to 21.
Darlington manager Craig Liddle used a 5-3-2 formation for the first time, and it paid immediate dividends when Quakers took the lead after just three minutes.
John McReady crossed from the right for 17-year-old David Ferguson to turn back across goal for Marc Bridge-Wilkinson to head into the bottom corner.
But the lead didn’t last long. Quakers lack height throughout their side, and the Stags exploited that weakness when Paul Murray swung a free-kick over to the far post where John Dempster headed firmly past Jordan Pickford.
Despite having the majority of the possession, Mansfield lacked the killer instinct inside the Darlington box, and Quakers, with Rob Ramshaw and Ryan Bowman up front posed danger, and nearly took the lead when McReady found Ramshaw in a good position, but the youngster blazed his shot wide from ten yards.
Mansfield took the lead just before the break, when Ross Dyer completely miscued his cross, but Ben Hutchinson still managed to head the ball down for Matt Green to fire into the top corner.
And it could have been worse for Quakers, if Murray’s right-foot effort from ten yards hadn’t hit the inside of both posts before ending up in Pickford’s grateful hands.
Darlington kept battling away, but Mansfield went 3-1 up on 70 minutes when Green got away from Kris Taylor and scored with a left-foot shot.
After Ryan Bowman missed an easy header from a couple of yards, John McReady scored the goal of the game when he ran 40 yards past three defenders and beat Alan Marriott with a low shot, but Green almost immediately completed his hat-trick at the other end from the spot after he was brought down.
And Green again proved he was the difference between the two sides when he set up Louis Briscoe to blast the fifth near the end.
MANSFIELD: Marriott, O’Neill, Sutton, Dempster, Edwards, Smith (Meikle 71), Roberts, Murray, Dyer (Rhead 90), Hutchinson (Briscoe 46), Green.
Not Used: Redmond, Riley.
Goals: Dempster 15, Green 44,70,75 pen, Briscoe 86.
DARLINGTON: Pickford, Bagnall, Taylor, Harrison, Ferguson, Arnison, Ramshaw, Keltie (Lambert 85),McReady, Bridge-Wilkinson, Bowman (Rundle 81).
Not Used: Nixon, Barton, Hopson.
Booked: Keltie, Bridge-Wilkinson.
Goals: Bridge-Wilkinson 3,McReady 72.
Att: 1,697
Ref: Robert Merchant (Staffordshire).
