KEVIN SANDWITH felt Mansfield Town missed an opportunity after slipping to their first home defeat of the season against Tamworth.

The Stags went into the game leading the Blue Square Bet Premier table on goal difference.

But they were knocked down to third as the Lambs claimed a 1-0 victory at Field Mill.

It is the third time in three seasons that Mansfield have been unable to beat Gary Mills' side on their own patch.

"When you are playing well and top of the league, even though you are playing a decent side, if you have aspirations of finishing near the top then you should be winning games like this," said Sandwith.

"But Tamworth came here with a game plan and put in a decent performance.

"They made it hard, but they have had some good results, beating Luton, and are a good side.

"They sat deep, broke quickly and had some decent energy going forward, as they showed with the goal they scored."

Sandwith says he and the rest of his team-mates were disappointed by how they conceded the winner, scored on the half hour mark by Ben Wilkinson.

He said: "Once they got the goal then it was up to us to try to break them down, but the more we pushed on the more we were vulnerable to another counter at the other end.

"To concede a goal as we did from our own set piece was massively disappointing.

"Louis Briscoe got to his man but then had it nicked past him. It was a sloppy goal all round really."