United were back in action following the weekend postponement as the country went into mourning on the passing of Her Majesty, The Queen.
There were two changes from the Rochdale home draw, with Omari Patrick in for the injured Ryan Edmondson up front, in a three with Jordan Gibson and Kris Dennis, and Callum Guy was in for Jayden Harris as he returned from a short spell out.
United mounted the first attack of the night when they got forward in numbers with just two minutes on the clock. It was fed through from Mellish to Patrick, who had beaten the offside trap, but his cutback took a deflection and spun high. Dennis and Moxon challenged but it fell nicely for Pym to gather.
The Stags responded with a swift move up the right flank with Bowery showing for it in space. He crossed low and it ricocheted to Maris, on the edge of the area. He went for precision but Holy watched it all the way.
A great touch from Gibson on the outside of his boot saw him take a high ball out of the air as the action went from end to end. His next touch was a grasscutter of a delivery that had Dennis interested. The striker shaped to shoot from 14-yards out but Hawkins slid at him, and that was enough to put him off. His effort screwed wide of the target.
It was a good start from the Cumbrians and they almost opened things up again when Moxon floated a free kick from deep. Feeney nodded it back into the mix but it was hooked clear by a yellow shirt before Mellish could volley.
Intelligent work from Patrick gave Armer an invitation to overlap and he skipped into the box before drilling it across the face of goal. Feeney was forward, but he got his bearings wrong and he popped his volley on the run from close range straight at the keeper when he had the width of the nets to aim at.
Mansfield then found unexpected space when Maris latched onto a loose ball in midfield. He strode forward and put venom into his 19-yard effort. Holy parried, and Lapslie arrived on the follow up to stroke it home. His celebrations were cut short by the assistant's upraised flag.
Left back Stephen McLaughlin brushed the outside of the side netting when he dropped a shoulder and let fly, and that caused a temporary halt to proceedings as the fabric separated from the post. Keeper Tomas Holy used his height to help with the repairs.
There was a fantastic, free-flowing move from the away team just past the half hour with Gibson, Moxon, Back and Patrick involved in working the ball forward. Patrick slowed things down as he reached the edge of the area, before picking out Moxon for a delivery. Dennis was up to meet that, and Gibson's eyes lit up when the nod down came his way. A fierce volley was thundered goalwards, but Pym was down quickly to push it away. Back recovered it, but his clipped pass was hoofed to safety.
Both sides probed and pressed ahead of the break, and a free kick deep into time added on was well defended as Huntington shadowed the training ground routines when Hartigan lobbed it into the area.
That was it for the action and it was all-square as the teams headed up the tunnel for their respective team talks.
United missed an unbelievable chance in the first minute of the second half when Paul Huntington threaded a wonderful 50-yard pass, from inside his own half, for Gibson to meet. The winger centred, and Dennis was there with the goal at his mercy. The in-form striker seemed to lose his balance as he blazed over the bar.
Lapslie overlapped at the other end and he ripped a low pass across the face of goal. It went untouched, but the Stags came again with Akins looking lively. He made space and he forced a reaction save out of Holy at the stopper's near post.
It was Moxon who was next to pick a perfect pass from the halfway line, and once again Gibson was the recipient. He stepped inside his marker and put his laces through the ball, but it swerved wide and Pym was able to watch it on its way.
Things tightened up in the middle of the park at the same time as the game added a feisty edge to its repertoire, but Moxon was on the mark with another raking free kick. Feeney toe poked it when he met it at the back stick but Pym dropped to the floor to gather it up.
United had a long throw from Hewitt to defend, and Back did well to send it behind off a near post flick. The resulting corner was mopped up.
A sliced volley from Maris rocketed off into the night sky as defences remained stubborn, and Hartigan also went wild with his attempt from wide.
Great work from Dennis tight by the corner flag earned space for a lofted delivery that eventually fell to Back, as he arrived late. He had it on target but Pym was there.
Maris was a whisker away from registering with seven minutes left to play when he stayed deep as McLaughlin provided an outlet. The pull back was knee high but he couldn't find the bottom corner with his fierce connection.
There was a wall of resistance through the tense closing stages, and it was a well deserved point on the road ... with musings of what might have been had one of the excellent chances created been taken.
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Bookings
Mansfield Town - Maris (59)
Carlisle United - Gibson (59), Mellish (69), Moxon (87)
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Teams
Mansfield Town - Pym, McLaughlin, Hewitt, Hartigan, Harbottle, Akins, Clarke (c) (Quinn 70), Bowery, Maris, Hawkins, Lapslie. Subs - Flinders (gk), Gordon, Wallace, Gale, O'Toole.
Carlisle United - Holy, Feeney (c), Huntington, Mellish, Back, Moxon, Guy, Gibson (Hilton 83), Armer, Patrick, Dennis (Stretton 89). Subs - Kelly (gk), Charters, Whelan, Harris, Idehen.
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Match officials
Referee - Sam Allison
Assistant Referee 1 - Lewis Raper
Assistant Referee 2 - Mark Cunliffe
Fourth Official - Johnathon Bickerdike
Observer - Mark Haywood
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Attendance - 5,421 (155)