21st April 2018

More than matching their promotion-chasing opponents in the first half, Lewis Wing and Alex Fisher both went close whilst Omar Sowunmi had a strong penalty claim waved away. 

Looking like remaining at a stalemate at the halfway stage, Dan Jones’ horribly deflected shot from long range gave the Magpies the lead in first-half stoppage time. 

In an afternoon where luck seemed to evade the visitors, Tom James thrashed Liam Noble’s pass into his own net from the edge of the box as he slid to intercept to trigger a County onslaught. 

Elliott Hewitt and Lewis Alessandra added a quickfire double before Alex Fisher’s late consolation strike, but it wasn’t enough to salvage an afternoon to forget for Yeovil.

Altering shape to a 5-3-2 formation, Darren Way made three changes for the trip to Nottingham. 

Bevis Mugabi came in for Rhys Browne to make up a back five, whilst Jared Bird replaced Otis Khan in a midfield switch to three central midfielders.

In the final change, Jordan Green dropped to the bench to allow Southampton loanee Marcus Barnes to partner Alex Fisher upfront. 

Returning from the sidelines, Nathan Smith took a seat amongst the substitutes for his first involvement since February following a knee injury as he looked for a 295th appearance in Green & White. 

Despite opting to reinforce defence the Glovers started on the front foot and produced two good opportunities early on.

Bursting forward from midfield, Wing collected Tom James’ angled pass and from 20 yards forced Adam Collin into an early save, before Fisher almost pounced when Shaun Brisley failed to clear properly only for his header to drop just wide. 

Sandwiched between the two chances, Way’s side had a strong penalty claimed waved away when Omar Sowunmi seemed to be bundled over in the box as James’ cross honed in on Town’s captain, but referee Anthony Backhouse remained uninterested. 

Creating a nervy County back four, the visitors almost fell behind against the run of play as the 20-minute mark approached when Jonathan Forte’s lobbed effort over Jonny Maddison crashed back off the bar.

Threatening to become an entertaining affair, both sides’ momentum was disrupted after a lengthy injury to Shaun Donnellan – who continued with the addition of a head bandage – before Yeovil once again threatened to open the scoring. 

A swift counter led to Jared Bird feeding Wing outside the box, but the Middlesborough loanee’s strike flew over the bar to give Collin a let off.

Looking like being an opening 45 minutes full of promise for the Somerset outfit, Kevin Nolan’s side took the lead during the seven minutes of additional time. 

Jones’ speculative strike from 25 yards looked to be heading for Maddison only for a wicked deflection to divert the shot into the back of the net. 

After a half in which the visitors produced the better of the play, Town trudged in at the break a goal down before restarting in determined manner. 

Enjoying plenty of early territory, a second goal of the game looked like it would come from the side in Green & White before the Magpies netted again in fortuitous manner. 

Liam Noble’s drilled cross was offering no threat to Maddison’s goal, but the unfortunate James slid in to intercept and in the process inadvertently fizzed the ball into the top corner. 

Settling the hosts, Yeovil reverted to a more familiar 4-4-2 as the changes were wrung but the Nottinghamshire outfit added a quick double to make it 4-0. 

With 69 minutes played, Hewitt made no mistake with a drilled strike from inside the box before just four minutes later Alessandra remained composed to add a fourth in similar circumstances to complete the scoring. 

Regaining their composure to halt Notts’ spell of dominance Town kept it to four and grabbed a goal back when Fisher skilfully dispatched a 25-yard free-kick under the wall and into the back of the net, but that was as good as it got as back-to-back defeats on the road were confirmed. 

Notts County: Collin; Hunt, Duffy, Brisley, Jones; Virtue, Noble (Husin 81′), Hewitt (O’Connor 75′), Alessandra; Ameobi (Stead 67′), Forte. 
Bookings: Stead 72′
Subs not used: Fitzsimons, Hawkridge, Smith, Hall.

Yeovil Town: Maddison; James, Mugabi, Sowunmi, Donnellan (Green 56′), Dickson (N. Smith 59′); Bird, Wing, Gobern (Browne 56′); Barnes, Fisher.
Bookings: Gobern 31′
Subs not used: Phillips, Santos, Khan, Seager.