BARNSLEY suffered a third successive defeat in League One as Mansfield left it late to beat the Reds 2-1.

A Josh Benson strike just after half-time cancelled out Kaylan Vickers' opener for the Stags, but it was Deji Oshilaja who won it late on for the hosts.

Conor Hourihane named his first starting 11 as the interim head coach following Darrell Clarke's sacking earlier in the week.

Adam Phillips returned from injury, Mael de Gevigney came back following a suspension and Benson started his first league game for the Reds since a 1-1 draw in October 2023.

Neil Farrugia, Connor Barratt and Max Watters dropped to the bench.

Benson began the game at right-wing-back, with Corey O'Keeffe switching to the left.

And it was the former who almost opened the scoring on five minutes.

After DKD played Stephen Humphrys through one-on-one his effort was well saved by Christy Pym, but it fell to Benson whose low-driven effort was straight ay the Stags' 'keeper.

But it was the Stags who took the lead in the 12th minute,

Vickers found space in the area and fired easily past Jackson Smith in the Barnsley goal.

That was the last of the action for Smith, who was taken off straight after through injury and replaced by Kieren Flavell for his first league appearance.

It continued to be a difficult half for the Reds, with Mansfield on top and creating a number of chances.

The hosts dominated for much of the first half, with Hourihane's side only coming into the game in the final five minutes.

But he made changes at half-time, and they made an almost instant impact.

The ball was played through to Keillor-Dunn who found Benson on the overlap.

His powerful strike was too much for Pym and the Reds equalised just nine minutes after the break.

It was an end-to-end game from there, but neither side were able to capitalise on sloppy play.

Jordan Rhodes almost won it for the hosts with two minutes to go, but McCarthy did brilliantly to block his goal-bound strike.

But it was his team-mate, Deji Oshilaja who won it for the hosts as he turned and fired past Flavell with less than a minute to go.

It was Mansfield's first win since early January.

The result leaves the Reds still 10th, but now nine points off the top six.