Stags on the spot again to sink Peterborough and reach last 16 of Carabao Cup

Posted Wednesday, September 27, 2023 by PA

Mansfield won a penalty shoot-out for the second round in a row after a 2-2 draw with League One Peterborough United to make the Carabao Cup fourth round for the first time since 1975.

Former Posh goalkeeper Christy Pym was the hero with two penalty saves in the 3-1 shoot-out success against his old club as the League Two high-flyers maintained their record as the only EFL side unbeaten in all competitions.

Mansfield soaked up early pressure and Baily Cargill had to clear a Ricky-Jade Jones finish off the line in the third minute before the home side grabbed a fifth minute lead from the penalty spot.

An Archie Collins foul on Will Swan was spotted and the latter coolly tucked away the spot-kick down the centre of Nicholas Bilokapic’s goal.

Pym had to save well in the 18th minute, diving to his left to deny Ephron Mason-Clark.

However, the visitors were level on the half-hour as Jonson Clarke-Harris drilled a 25-yard free-kick through the Mansfield wall and past a helpless Pym.

A minute after Pym tipped over a Hector Kyprianou header to stop Posh turning the game on its head – but the visitors were ahead two minutes after the break.

Peter Kioso crossed hard and low from the right and although George Williams hooked clear from near the goal line, Clarke-Harris followed up clinically.

Kioso hit the bar with a header from a 51st-minute corner.

But Mansfield went up a gear and were rewarded in the third added minute as Lucas Akins levelled from the spot after Clarke-Harris had brought down substitute Calum Macdonald.

Pym made two great stops in the shoot-out before Davis Keillor-Dunn buried the crucial winner.