Contributions by Matthew Stephens and Sophie Ashley

Marcus Poscha’s controversial red card proved to be the turning point after an end-to-end opening stage to the game, which saw the Stags take control for much of the rest of the game.

Craig Mahon and his team can still be proud of their efforts in the historic competition having reached the First Round Proper for the third season in a row, but they’ll have to wait another year to try and equal their record Second Round appearances of 2008/2009 and 2016/2017.

The first clear cut chance of the game fell in Mansfield’s favour in the third minute, with Louis Reed’s free-kick on the edge of the box deflected out for a corner and the subsequent set-piece was cleared to safety.

Curzon almost took the lead in the seventh minute after Mike Afuye found himself bearing down on goal, but an incredible last-ditch tackle by the Stags’ captain Alfie Kilgour meant the keeper could collect the ball.

Mansfield were awarded a penalty in the 14th minute after Marcus Poscha was deemed to have used his hands when making a goal-line clearance, a decision that saw the defender sent off.

Lucas Akins dispatched the spot-kick in front of the Nash faithful to send Mansfield into a 1-0 lead, despite appeals from the bench that Poscha had not committed the handball offence for which he was punished.

The visitors’ numerical advantage took its toll in the 29th minute when the ball was squared into the Curzon box, finding Steven Quinn who lashed it home to put Nigel Clough’s side 2-0 up.

The goal scorer is no stranger to the competition as he appeared in the FA Cup final in 2014 for Hull City in their 3-2 loss against Arsenal.

Mansfield’s Will Evans came close to finding the net for them again in the 41st minute, but he couldn’t keep his effort on target and it rolled past the post, much to the relief of the Curzon fans behind the goal.

Curzon were left with a lot to do in the second half if they wanted to fulfil their dreams of a big cup upset, with 10 men and 2-0 down being a difficult position to be in at the break.

Isaac Buckley-Ricketts was the first threat to the Mansfield back line in the second half when his rapid run and quick feet gave him the chance to shoot on the edge of the box, but his effort flew wide of the target and Curzon were still left with a two-goal deficit to try to undo.

The Nash made a trio of changes in the 62nd minute as Stefan Mols, Buckley-Ricketts and Afuye made way for Luis Lacey, Craig Mahon and debutant David Worrall, who signed from Barrow this weekend.

Mansfield hit the woodwork in the 68th through Ben Waine when his glancing effort clipped the outside of the post after Akins’ cross.
Waine made up for it four minutes later when his shot from the middle of the box bounced off the opposite post, but this time it found it’s way in to send Clough’s team 3-0 up despite Curzon’s claims of a foul on Jordan Richards.

Timi Somowale made another appearance off the bench when he replaced Jimmy Spencer in the 77th minute. The Nash were awarded a free-kick in the 80th minute that last round’s hero Luis Lacey took, which was unfortunately fired straight at Christy Pym and he was able to catch it comfortably.

The visitors found their fourth after 85 minutes when the ball dropped to Ben Quinn, who slotted into the bottom corner to secure his second goal of the afternoon.

Cameron Tetlow entered the pitch to replace Isaac Sinclair as the fourth official signalled for three minutes of added time, not long after Aden Flint’s powerful header hit the bar for the visitors.

Final score 0-4