STUNG by late goals in their last two games, it was an early one which cost Mansfield Town.
Ten minutes were on the clock when Sullay Kaikai found the net for Cambridge United. And despite some positive play and good openings for the Stags, it proved enough to see the visitors through to the third round of the FA Cup.
Adopting a 3-4-3 formation, boss Murray rung the changes once again for the second round replay – five in total from the side which started Saturday's 1-1 draw with Cheltenham Town.
With Dimitar Evtimov, Kieron Freeman and Junior Brown all cup-tied by their respective parent clubs, Sascha Studer, Rob Taylor and Lee Beevers came into the starting line-up.
And Rakish Bingham and Ollie Palmer made up a three-pronged attack alongside Vadaine Oliver as Reggie Lambe and Fergus Bell dropped to the bench.
It was a system which worked well in the opening stages as the hosts pressed and probed from the off.
Within 35 seconds of kick-off, Oliver had drawn keeper Chris Dunn into action with a header from point-blank range following Bingham's floated cross.
And a superb lofted ball from Simon Heslop almost set the latter free shortly after, only for some quick-thinking from the Cambridge defence to intervene.
As exciting as they were going forward though, Murray's preference for passing football also left his team exposed at the back as, too often, they tried to play their way out of trouble.
Studer was left breathing a sigh of relief with four minutes on the clock when he misjudged a Ryan Tafazolli back header and gave Luke Chadwick a glimpse of goal.
However, the midfielder was forced wide and his ball across the face from the right was cleared behind.
If that was a dose of good fortune, the opposite applied on the ten minute mark.
Kaikai's shot from outside the box took a significant deflection off Luke Waterfall, leaving Studer wrong-footed as the ball trickled into the net. A horrible way for Mansfield to fall behind.
To their credit, the Stags immediately tried to get back in the game as Oliver sent a header wide; and they kept plugging away thereafter, creating a handful of decent chances to force an equaliser.
Taylor expertly brought down a long ball and fed Bingham, who couldn't get enough power behind his strike to trouble Dunn, while Richard Tait was on hand to block from Palmer on the half hour.
Keen to replicate his extravagant effort against the Robins at the weekend, Oliver had a go from distance. But this one was distinctly lacking in star quality as his daisy-cutter flashed wide.
There was plenty of effort and entertainment from the home side, just no equaliser to go with it before the break.
And they could have gone further behind as Cambridge always looked dangerous going forward, helped by some nervy moments from the Stags defence.
Heslop took too long on the ball five minutes before the break and was caught in possession, with Chadwick stealing in to set up an attack.
The ball pinged around the penalty area with blue shirt after blue shirt passing up the opportunity to shoot, before Blair finally pulled the trigger – Studer making a decent save to keep the score at 1-0.
It should have been 1-1, had a rasping drive from Chris Clements not taken a deflection, earning only a corner before the whistle went.
The hard luck story continued from the restart as Palmer headed wide from Taylor's cross, but so too, did the uneasiness at the back.
Tafazolli redeemed himself after giving the ball away, sticking out a leg to get in the way of Kwesi Appiah's close-range shot.
And then sloppy play from Waterfall handed substitute Ryan Bird the opportunity to let fly on the edge of the area, with Studer on hand to push the ball away.
Great skill from Lambe almost produced the equaliser with 67 minutes gone, when a great first touch saw him control Clements' ball, only to fire inches wide of the post.
The introduction of Matt Rhead with 20 minutes to go, got the One Call crowd going, and there was a warm round of applause for the introduction of debutant Dan Fletcher.
The teenage striker played his part in a late rally, having a shot blocked within seconds of coming on before almost teeing up Bingham with a cross.
Waterfall thought he'd grabbed the leveller with one minute to go, when he found the net with an overhead kick. The linesman however, put paid to the celebrations with his offside flag and it was the U's who were left celebrating at the final whistle.
Mansfield: Studer; Sutton, Waterfall, Tafazolli, Beevers (Fletcher 81), Clements, Heslop, Taylor, Bingham, Oliver (Rhead 69), Palmer (Lambe 55). Subs not used: Riley, Bell, McGuire, Bishop.
Cambridge: Dunn; Tait, Coulson, Miller, G Taylor, Hughes, Champion, Chadwick (Naylor 74), Blair (Bird 58), Kaikai (B Taylor 67), Appiah. Subs not used: Norris, Simpson, Nelson, Atkinson.
Referee: Carl Boyeson.
Stags man of the match: Rakish Bingham: Along with Vadaine Oliver, looked Mansfield's best bet of finding the net. Caused Cambridge problems with his incessant running and a couple of times almost found himself in on goal. Getting his name on the scoresheet was the only thing missing from an energetic display.
