He was taken out of the squad on the way to Bristol suffering with tendonitis.
Rhys Day took over in the back four but the defence was all over the place as Rovers ran up two goals inside the first 20 minutes.
There should have been at least two more before Mansfield managed to steady their game.
The first miss came inside five minutes when Lewis Haldane came wide on the right, got in a low cross which Day failed to stop. The ball rolled for Junior Agogo but he was so surprised he allowed Jake Buxton to rob him.
Rovers had lost all three games while Agogo was defending but as he ran himself into match sharpness his team-mates tilted the match very much their way.
Haldane set up their first goal with another cross, this one struck hard towards the far post. There Sam Igoe had time to steady himself before blasting a shot. Mansfield keeper Kevin Pressman could only help into the top of his net.
It was Igoe's first goal since joining Rovers on loan from Milwall and he celebrated by becoming the provider for the second strike three minutes later.
A neat throughball put Richard Walker clear and after evading Pressman's desperate run from his line he angled home his seasons eighteenth goal.
Only Pressman's off balance save from Haldane came between Rovers and a commanding lead as they ran up half a dozen corners in the first half hour.
But as has so often happened to them this season Rovers concentration dipped and on a wet soft pitch Mansfield came back at them strongly after the break. Laurence Wilson drilled a shot just wide of Scott Shearer's left post while Buxton sent one wide of the other post.
Seeing he had Rovers on the back foot manager Peter Shirtliff sent on Simon Brown and Giles Coke to run at them.
A big area of the pitch was now simply clinging mud and as Mansfield won their first corner Rovers were in trouble but managed to hold out with hardly a shot to worry their keeper.