Mansfield boss Nigel Clough paid tribute to his troops as they were edged out 2-1 by high-flying Charlton in a very close battle.
Play-off hopefuls Charlton have now won seven and drawn one of their last nine and pipped Stags with a 74th-minute strike by Tyreece Campbell past Christy Pym on his near post.
Earlier a loose pass by Louis Reed had gifted Matty Godden a 22nd-minute opener before Spurs loanee Matty Craig rifled Mansfield level on 40 minutes.
“They are one of the top sides and we have more than gone toe to toe with them,” said Clough.
“We gave them a good old game. Those little moments just went against us.
“There was nothing wrong with the performance tonight for large parts against a very good team.
“It was an incredibly narrow defeat – there was nothing in the game whatsoever.
“We just made two errors that led to their two goals and that was the difference in the game.
“On Saturday we benefited from the opposition making a couple of errors and Charlton did from us tonight, especially the first goal.
“Trying to play a first-time ball back to the keeper was ridiculous. We don’t usually do those sort of things and it is incredibly frustrating.
“If anyone was going to win it it looked like it would be us and I don’t think Christy had a shot to save before the goal.
“But I am a bit disappointed with Pymy as it’s gone in on his near post.”
Reed’s poor back pass gifted Godden his 17th goal of the campaign.
But Mansfield were level when Baily Cargill’s cross was headed out to Craig, who smashed home a rising finish off the underside of the bar from 15 yards.
Josh Edwards had a shot blocked on the line before Campbell held off Stephen McLaughlin to zip a near-post finish past Pym.
Stags piled on late pressure, but Charlton held firm.
Boss Nathan Jones said: “That was a very hard-fought win with so many pleasing aspects.
“We showed character to come to a very difficult place to play – the crowd were up and Mansfield were really aggressive.
“Fair play to them, they came after us.
“We started quite well but we were not relentless enough and we let them back into it, though Mansfield deserve a lot of credit for that as they had a part to play.
“We allowed Mansfield to step onto us and they got a bit of momentum, which was our making.
“Second half I thought we were much better, got a great goal from Tyreece and then saw the game out really well.
“Any win at the minute is excellent and this is a tough, tough place to come.
“We never had real control in the game and Mansfield played their part in that.”
