FOOTBALL has a habit of kicking you in the teeth at times - and last night York City felt its full force.

With a 1-0 lead - courtesy of a Lee Nogan strike - and less than a minute remaining, the Minstermen were on the verge of a sensational victory over their title-chasing hosts, Mansfield Town.

However, Craig Disley popped up to spoil the celebrations of the travelling City faithful to fire a scrambled effort home - with the point enough to take Mansfield clear in second spot.

The goal was harsh on City, who had travelled to Field Mills with an injury-ravaged squad, but had fought tooth and nail for their lead.

The performance was by no means pretty, but there was no criticising the commitment and hard-work from Terry Dolan's charges.

And yet again it was former Welsh international Nogan who epitomised the spirit with a tireless display rewarded by an opportunist goal.

When former Oxford team-mate Les Robinson failed to put enough power behind his header back for keeper Kevin Pilkington, Nogan was off like a whippet.

His initial shot was superbly parried by Pilkington, but Nogan rushed through to finish the job off with 17 minutes left.

City could quite easily have been 2-0 up by this point after having had the better of the first 45 minutes - only the post and the fingertips of Kevin Pilkington denying them this advantage.

Richard Cooper, who pushed and probed throughout down the right flank, was unlucky not to scored following a flowing move after 27 minutes.

Michael Proctor did well to control and flick the ball across to Nick Richardson, who in turn played in Cooper on the overlap. With the Mansfield defence stretched, Cooper advanced, cut inside Allen Tankard and unleashed a left-footed curler.

A slight deflection added to the spin on the ball, but, with Pilkington stranded, the ball ricocheted off the post and clear.

Minutes later it was Graham Potter who was denied when Pilkington, who was part of the Manchester United side which famously lost 3-0 to City in the League Cup, tipped his quickly taken free-kick over the bar.

The Stags did have a couple of opportunities to get on the score-sheet, but they never really troubled Alan Fettis.

Lee Williamson's rising drive the closest Mansfield came in the first half.

However, it was a different story after the break, as the Stags, with the words of boss Billy Dearden ringing in their ears, came charging out.

A wayward drive from Tankard after a spell of five-minutes constant pressure sounded as a warning, before Disley went within inches of opening the scoring.

On-loan Sheffield Wednesday striker Matthew Piper's pin-point cross found Disley in the box and his header seemed destined for the net, but somehow Fettis managed to claw the ball away in mid-air for a corner.

Despite suffering selection problems in the back line, City looked comfortable soaking up the pressure - with Chris Smith and Matt Hocking very assured at centre-backs - and when Nogan made it 1-0 there seemed only one result.

However, Mansfield were far from out of the game - and kept surging forward trying to unlock City's back four.

To the anguish of the fans, management and players alike, the breakthrough came with 45 seconds left.

Liam Lawrence's cross seemed to hang for ever. Fettis got a fist to it, but the ball fell to Disley to fire the ball into the back of the net.

The City heads sank, while Dolan took his frustration out on the side of the dug-out, but after a highly-criticised performace against Swansea three days early, the improvements were there for all to see.

Fact file:

Mansfield

Scorers: Craig Disley 90m

Mansfield: Pilkington, Asher, Barrett (Reddington 46), Robinson, Piper, Lawrence, Williamson, Disley, Corden (Bradley 76), Greenacre, Tankard. Subs, not used: Bingham, Jervis, White.

Booking: None

Sending-off: None

York City

Scorers: Lee Nogan 73m.

York City: Fettis 7, Edmondson 7, Potter 6, Cooper 7, Brass 7, Nogan 8 (Mathie 86), Proctor 6, Smith 7, Richardson 6, Hocking 7, Stamp 7. Subs, not used: Howarth, Basham, Wood, Darlow.

Booking: Cooper 34m, Richardson 44m, Hocking 66m, Smith 71m.

Sending-off: None

Attendance: 4,887

Ref: Brian Curson (Leicestershire)