DAVID Holdsworth felt his Mansfield Town side missed the goalscoring instincts of Kyle Perry and Jake Speight as they stumbled to a 1-1 home draw with struggling Eastbourne on Saturday.

The Stags were hoping to bounce back from their midweek FA Cup exit at Field Mill by beating a Borough side without a win in seven games.

But with Speight (knee) out injured and Perry (thigh) coming off after just seven minutes, Mansfield struggled to create clear-cut chances.

And when they did they missed the finishing power of the two men who have scored 16 goals between them so far this season.

"It has been a long week and it is never easy when you lose two of your goal threats," said boss Holdsworth.

"It makes it difficult when you have planned to play around someone like Kyle, who has been outstanding recently.

"Chances were limited but there were three or four players who have not had 90 minutes under their belts for a while and all things considered we worked very hard.

"Of course we are frustrated by a draw. We needed a little bit more luck, but you have to earn it and keep working hard."

After going behind a before half-time through Kayne McLaggon's deflected strike, Mansfield grabbed a 68th minute leveler from Jon Challinor.

The Stags manager was pleased with the attacking midfielder's contribution following a move from Cambridge United.

Holdsworth said: "It is always a blow to lose a goal and it is another deflection (off Michael Brough) which has cost us.

"As defenders you ask them to put their bodies on the line and they did, but the deflection still put us down.

"The heads could have dropped but full credit to the boys because they kept going. I said before the game we needed to show patience – and we did.

"I don't think we deserved to lose the game and on another day we might have come out on top.I thought Jon had an excellent debut. He likes getting into the box and that's exactly what I brought him in for. He showed maturity, won a lot of first ball headers and got the eqaualiser."

Holdsworth felt the strong wind and driving rain made it difficult for both sides to play their best football.

"It was testing, but you have to manage that. I felt we played the ball on the floor better than Eastboune but at times didn't get enough crosses in.

"Eastbourne are a team that do work hard and full credit to them but we limited them to one shot on goal."