AS the fans flocked into Field Mill, there was a sense of the good old days being back in Mansfield.

Kick off delayed for 20 minutes due to crowd congestion, wasn't this meant to be non-league football?

But following a successful offer of generosity by the club's owners, they had attracted the swelling crowd they wanted. With supporters being told they could pay what they wanted to enter, everyone was after a look.

In his programme notes, manager David Holdsworth spelt it out. "Hopefully we will look back on this day and say 'that was the start of something special'".

That was what everybody wanted. People were back at Field Mill to see what all the fuss was about. It was a chance to watch for a penny and witness a team looking to return to the Football League.

Instead, they were subjected to a horror show and by the end, many of the 7,261 fans that turned out had long gone. With 15 minutes remaining and Mansfield 2-0 down, they were flooding out the ground, no doubt after a quick alcoholic beverage to erase what they had just seen.

Had they known what was about to happen, it would not have been delayed by 20 minutes. Instead, they would have kicked off early in order to get the nightmare over and done with.

With Gateshead without a win in the league in seven matches and missing their star man, former Stag Daryl Clare, the odds were stacked against them. Struggling in the bottom three, this game was seen as the perfect one to get the fans flocking in. It could be almost like an exhibition.

Instead, the only way this will be seen as the start of something special is if it gives Mansfield the kick up the backside, which puts them into top gear, helping them eradicate any such disastrous and lacklustre performances in the future.

Holdsworth also reminded fans in his programme notes about how they had lost just once in 14 months at home in the league. A remarkable record now blotted.

The writing was on the wall as soon as Gateshead's Brian Wake saw his deflected strike nestle into the corner of the net after just five minutes.

Without that decisive touch, it would no doubt have gone straight into Alan Marriott's arms. Instead it was taken cruelly away, giving him no chance.

Instead of a positive reaction, the Stags lacked ideas and guile and were lucky not to be completely out of the game at the break.

Holdsworth called the opening 45 minutes inept and appalling. He was being kind. After the opener, Wake also missed a glorious chance from three yards out. It came on the half hour mark, when James Sinclair's throw was flicked on by James Curtis. It fell to Wake, unmarked at the back post, but he got the ball stuck under his feet and it rolled to Marriott.

A few minutes later Marriott rescued the Stags with a superb save. Wake headed the ball into the path of Graeme Armstrong and from inside the box he thundered a shot which the Mansfield goalkeeper managed to keep out.

Just before half time Peter Winn fed Wake inside the box, cutting the defence open but Marriott saved with his legs.

Mansfield's half was summed up by their only effort on goal, a half-hearted strike on the turn from Jake Speight.

At the break, Holdsworth looked to change matters with a double substitution, with Jon Challinor and Kyle Perry replacing Oli Hotchkiss and Louis Briscoe. But three minutes in, Gateshead scored again.

Stags skipper Luke Foster was at fault as he left a long punt forward from the visiting goalkeeper.

And Wake obliged as he picked up the ball, cut inside onto his right foot before showing great composure as he drilled the ball beyond Marriott.

With part-time Gateshead tiring, Mansfield finally got in on the act in the final ten minutes and the visiting goalkeeper produced some inspired saves. The fact is many of the fans that turned up would have missed that late surge, so upset were they with the earlier performance.

Paul Farman pulled off a great double save as he dived at the feet of Speight to save before palming Gary Silk's effort from the rebound onto the bar.

And in the fourth minute of injury time Farman pulled off a point-blank save from Jon Shaw's header before denying Jones with a one-handed save.

That late rally and Farman's heroics could not mask over the fact that the Stags let those excited fans down, especially in the first half.

Holdsworth was man enough to admit his side's failings and his post-match lock-in would have contained a few choice words following the 2-0 defeat.

It will be interesting to see the reaction tomorrow night at title-chasing Stevenage. Unless there is a dramatic improvement, it could be a very difficult night.

The hope is that the generosity and foresight of the Stags owners in attracting a bumper crowd does not go to waste.

But, for many inside Field Mill on Saturday, there was not much on show to attract them back.

Now they have to turn that negative into a positive and not let such a performance happen again.

Only if that happened could Saturday's game prove to be the start of something special.