AFC progressed to the Fourth Round of the NCEL League Cup after a penalty shoot-out win over Maltby.
The Bulls earned a two-goal lead before the break, but a tireless Miners outfit fought back in the second half to force the game to be settled from the spot.
With just three minutes played, Luke Walker bagged his second goal in two outings as he lobbed Nicky Darker's throw-in into the far top corner with his back turned to goal.
It were the Miners who controlled the opening proceedings, however, and could have levelled when Ben Algar dribbled into the AFC box and nicely fed Gavin King, but the striker could only drag the ball wide of the near post.
On 27 minutes the whole ground thought it was two to the good, but off the back of a brilliant run from Brandon Webster, Duggan turned to goal and saw his low drive turned around the post by Jamie Pollard.
That chance marked the start of a much better spell for the Bulls, and their hard work was rewarded in some style when Webster cut inside from the left and curled home a beauty into the top corner from 25 yards.
With the downhill advantage in the second half, Maltby pinned the Bulls back into their own half, and came close to getting one back when Sam Liversidge turned a cross goalwards but saw the effort cleared away.
On the hour mark, however, Liversidge took advantage of Dylan Parkin's poor low clearance and lobbed the Bulls 'keeper from 40 yards out.
Four minutes later and the scores were all level again, as King fired low past Parkin from inside the penalty area to send the home fans into raptures.
A level 20 minutes saw the two teams battle it out hard in the fight for a potential winner, with no clear chance until Parkin did brilliantly to get down to turn Jonathan Hill's header around the post with three minutes to play.
The game concluded at 2-2, and the two sides headed into a tense penalty shoot out.
Grant Ryan and Jordan Annable tucked away both of AFC's first two spot-kicks, whilst Parkin crucially got down to palm away Algar's penalty to give his side the upper hand.
The takers from Matt Chatfield's side didn't crumble under the pressure, and Ross Duggan stepped up to fire the winning penalty home against his former club and send the Bulls into the Fourth Round.
MATCH DETAILS
Final score | Maltby Main 2-2 AFC Mansfield (AFC win 4-5 on penalties)
Scorers | Liversidge (60'), King (64') - Walker (4'), Webster (36')
Maltby Main XI | Pollard (GK), McGowan, Algar, Liversidge, Austin (C), Cutts, Patterson, Hill, Moxam, Hopewell, King
Unused subs | Morton, Eades, Lumley, Birks, Bailey (GK)
Yellow cards | Austin (73')
Bulls XI | Parkin (GK), Slone, Williams (Ryan 46'), McGuire, Hough, Annable (C), Walker, Darker, Duggan, Warner (Buxton 61'), Webster
Unused subs | McMillan, Lucas, Warhurst (GK)
Man of the Match | Luke Walker
Attendance | 81