TEN-MAN MAGPIES HANG ON
NOTTS County’s quest to win the National League title remains on track as they extended their unbeaten league run to 21 games with a hard fought win over Torquay United – despite being reduced to ten men.
An early second half penalty from Ruben Rodrigues proved to be the difference for the Magpies.
However, Rodrigues would later receive his marching orders after receiving two yellow cards – the second of which came after handling the ball as it was going out of play – and Magpies boss Luke Williams admitted he was confused by the decision to dismiss the Portuguese midfielder.
“The ball is going out of play, one more millimetre and he is stopping it hitting the advertising board,” said Williams. “He’s not controlling the ball to bring it back into play. I think the referee could apply some common sense in that situation.
“This (Torquay) is a difficult place to come to, every team who comes here will know that they have been in a game.”
Meanwhile Gulls boss Gary Johnson believed his side didn’t do enough to effect the game when they gained their numerical advantage.
“When they went down to ten men, we became less effective,” he said.
“Teams have come here and we haven’t been able to get the game back. Before we knew ‘Gary time’ was coming and we have got to get those goals. We have got to be more potent when we are in the ascendancy.”
Arguably the pick of the early chances fell to Rodrigues when he tested United keeper Mark Halstead with a 17th-minute free-kick.
County keeper Sam Slocombe then spared the blushes of Connell Rawlinson when he palmed a backward header from the Magpies cenSlocombe tre back behind for a corner.
County broke the deadlock on 34 minutes when Rawlinson found Macaulay Langstaff free in the penalty area, as he turned and drilled a low strike past Halstead.
Shortly afterwards, Johnson made an early change, sending Newport County loanee Lewis Collins on for his debut in place of Tope Fadahunsi.
And Collins played a role in United’s equaliser three minutes before the break, when he teed up Shaun Donnellan for a cross that found Tom Lapslie who slotted past to level matters.
Two minutes after the restart, County were awarded a penalty after Ben Wyatt felled former Gulls winger Aaron Nemane. Rodrigues stepped up and sent Halstead the wrong way to restore the Magpies’ lead.
Rodrigues’ game, however, was to last just 65 minutes when he received his second yellow card, but in spite of their numerical disadvantage County held onto win.
STAR MAN: Matty Palmer (Notts C)
ATT: 2,621
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REFEREE: Paul Johnson