Ex-Ipswich Town striker and Portsmouth Wembley hero over Sunderland suffers nightmare return to the capital during League Two play-off final

The 30-year-old was sent off after 35 minutes in Saturday’s League Two play-off final, before his Mansfield side suffered a 3-0 defeat to Port Vale.

After making 45 appearances for Nigel Clough’s team this season, the striker-turned-defender was aiming to roll the clock back to March 2019’s Checkatrade Trophy final, where his successful penalty sealed victory for Kenny Jackett’s side over Sunderland.

But it could barely have gone worse for the man who left Fratton Park in the summer of 2021, as he received two bookings in the space of five minutes – shortly after Kian Harratt and James Wilson had given Darrell Clarke’s side a commanding lead.

With the game effectively over at half-time, the Valiants added insult to injury by scoring once more, five minutes from time.

The scenes of him trudging down the tunnel in the first half were a far cry from his heroic exit three years earlier.

On that occasion, he left Wembley with a medal around his neck and hoisting the Checkatrade Trophy aloft, after stepping up to score the winning spot-kick following a 2-2 draw with Sunderland after extra-time.

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Now it’s back to League Two football, after failing to guide the Stags side into League One and a potential Pompey reunion.

For Mansfield, defeat condemns them to a ninth consecutive fourth-tier campaign – while providing Clough with one of his worst days in football.

The 56-year-old explained how he hadn’t seen Hawkins’ first caution, but admitted his centre-back shouldn’t have made the second challenge while on a disciplinary tightrope.

He told Mansfield & Ashfield Chad: ‘It ranks alongside relegation with Burton on the last day of the season with four minutes to go as my worst managerial moment.

‘Football is a horrible game sometimes and this is a horrible place sometimes.

‘I only saw the second one (yellow card). People tell me the first was soft.

‘I think the fourth official said the assistant had given it from 40 yards away. So it will be interesting to see if it was a yellow.

‘But he shouldn't have then committed the second foul. It's happened one or two times this season and probably symptomatic of one or two of the things we did in the first half.’

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