Mansfield Town came from behind to reach the Fifth Round of the FA Cup for the first time since the mid-seventies, following a stunning, 2-1 win away to Premier League Burnley on Saturday afternoon.

Nigel Clough’s, sitting mid-table in EFL League One, certainly lived up to the billing of the romance of the FA Cup, giving Stags fans plenty of Valentine’s joy following captain Louis Reed’s cracking, second half free-kick.

That goal arrived with ten minutes of the contest to play, a contest in which, not for the first time this season, Clough’s charges went in as underdogs, before upsetting the proverbial applecart.

A frenetic start saw both sides probing away in search of an early opener, defences holding firm in the early exchanges, however, midway through the first half, it would be Burnley, sitting nineteenth in the Premier League, who opened the scoring.

After thrashing Millwall in the Third Round last month, the Clarets were winless in four prior to a come-from-behind win of their own, at Crystal Palace, in midweek; here though, it was a case of roles reversed for Scott Parker’s side.

Lyle Foster found Josh Laurent on the edge of the Mansfield six-yard box, and he was afforded time to set himself up before placing a shot beyond Liam Roberts in the visiting goal; chances continued to be created, for both sides, as the first half wore on, but neither side could fashion further goals.

Into the second period, and, withing eight minutes of the restart, parity was restored by the visitors; Kyle Knoyle, who was seeing plenty of the ball himself, swung in a cross from the right, and Rhys Oates out-jumped all to head beautifully into Max Weiss’ far corner.

The Stags, they weren’t to be denied and pushed hard for the winner, with Stephen McLaughlin forcing Weiss into a save following a shot from distance, before the decisive goal came in the eightieth minute.

Florentino puts in a high challenge on Stags scorer, Oates, fully 25-yards from goal, and, from the resultant free-kick, captain Louis Reed did the rest, curling in a right-footed effort, left of goal, into Weiss’ top corner.

Zian Flemming did have a late chance to level for the hosting Clarets, and perhaps send the tie to extra-time, however, his effort blazed over Roberts’ bar from close range.

Reed’s effort, it was a deserved winner for a Stags side looking to create history this season; the League One playoffs are still within touching distance, despite slipping to thirteenth in the table following Plymouth Argyle’s 4-0 win at Blackpool.

Huddersfield Town, in the final playoff spot, sixth in the league, are just ten points ahead of Clough’s battle-hardened side, the Stags also having the advantage of two/three games in hand on all bar one (Stevenage) sides above them.

For now, though, the Stags faithful wait with anticipation for Monday evenings Fifth Round draw, matchwinner Reed telling BBC Sport immediately after the game of his goal that; “It was one of them, I think as soon as it left my boot I kind of felt it was going in.

“We’ve been working on them through the week, and I actually put three-in-a-row in training and as soon as it dropped in that position the lads said ‘yeah, this is your moment, and go take it,’ and thankfully I did.”

On the win itself, Reed added; “It just shows what a group we’ve got; the draws we keep getting are big ones (Sheffield United, and Burnley, last two rounds), and we’re going into as underdogs, but I felt we were always in the game, even when we were 1-0 down at half-time.

“We went in and we said, there’s something there for us, and the second half, we showed our qualities.”

As for the belief the Stags have, he continued by saying; “It’s a cliché but we just want, whoever we get in the next round, we go into that with the same energy as we went into this one.

“We work hard, try and run harder and work harder, and see where that gets us, and hopefully gets us a good draw.”

As for the draw for the next round, that arrives on Monday (16 February) evening, prior to kick-off in the Macclesfield-Brentford game; the Stags are ball no.9, Liverpool are 1, winner of Arsenal are 6, Chelsea have ball 7, West Ham United ball 8, Newcastle United 13, Manchester City 14, whilst Leeds United have final ball, no. 16.

*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).

*Main image @mansfieldtownfc Louis Reed celebrates his stunning winning goal.