A relentless Loughborough Dynamo side saw off the Bulls at the ADT Stadium after a second-half onslaught allowed the hosts to create a comfortable lead.
Luke Thorogood put the hosts ahead before Joe Iaciofano ensured the scores would be level at the break, but goals from Ryan Robbins and Alex Steadman (2) ensured victory for Dynamo before Mark Dudley saw red late on.
The first chance came with just a minute played, when Dynamo's Ryan Robbins turned and curled towards the far corner, but Jason White did well to dive and hold the ball.
Luke Thorogood then missed a golden chance to find the net when he glanced a header just wide at the far post.
Thorogood made up for his miss mid-way through the first half, as he poked past White after being fed through a tight gap in the AFC defence.
White did brilliantly to stop a second rolling in, using his feet to block two low Thorogood drives in the space of a minute.
Despite the onslaught, the Bulls remained resilient and were rewarded when the ball fell for Joe Iaciofano inside the Dynamo penalty area, and the striker turned and drove the ball clinically into Charlie Taylor's bottom corner.
It was close to a quick turnaround for the visitors, as Sean Whaler's excellent free-kick curled in for Ollie Fearon, but he was penalised for handball deep inside Dynamo's penalty box.
The game quickly ran away from AFC in the second half, with Rryan Robbins volleying Ruben Asamoah's cross into White's bottom corner on 51 minutes before Alex Steadman expertly cut inside and curled home ten minutes later.
Robbins came close to a fourth for Loughborough and perhaps should have found the net when his effort bound for the top corner was tipped over the crossbar by White's fingertips.
The second-half onslaught continued, and Mark Dudley did well to put his body in the way of a point-blank strike from Alex Steadman.
The fourth inevitably arrived in injury time when Steadman dashed across the AFC penalty area before driving back across goal and into the bottom corner.
The game ended on an even sourer note as Mark Dudley was shown a second yellow card for pulling Karl Demidh on the edge of the area.
MATCH DETAILS
Final score | Loughborough Dynamo 4-1 AFC Mansfield
Scorers | Thorogood (22'), Robbins (51'), Steadman (63', 90'+1) - Iaciofano (33')
Loughborough Dynamo XI | Taylor, Bryant, Gordon, Holmes (C), Foster, Keenan, Asamoah (Riley 64'), Young (Demidh 53'), Robbins (Brown 82'), Thorogood, Steadman
Unused substitutes | Reittie, Thornberry
Yellow cards | Robbins (45'+1)
Red cards | N/A
AFC Mansfield XI | White, Whaler (Dawes 68'), Dudley, D'Laryea, Annable, Marsden, Wall (Healey 70'), Buxton, Fearon, Iaciofano, Ghaichem (C)
Unused substitutes | Lawrence, Broadhead, Crosby
Yellow cards | Buxton (31'), Fearon (37'), Dudley (79')
Red cards | Dudley (90'+3)
Man-of-the-Match | TBC
Attendance | 120