Kevin Nolan admits Michael O'Connor was missed against Stevenage

Notts County manager Kevin Nolan has admitted that Michael O'Connor was missed at Stevenage, where the Magpies fell to a 3-0 defeat on Saturday.

The Lamex Stadium saw Notts' five-match unbeaten run come to a halt as Matty Godden and Jack King scored three unanswered goals between them for the hosts.

Magpies captain O'Connor did not feature as he is suspended following an accumulation of ten yellow cards, and Nolan said the absence of "one of the top players" for the club was notable.

"He was always going to be a massive miss for us especially when you are coming to teams like these (Stevenage)," he told the Nottingham Post. "Occy (O'Connor) has been one of the top players since I came in. He's been brilliant.

"But we have got good players and we just didn't turn up. It will be a learning experience for them and some of them have got to take it on the chin a bit quicker and get out of the rut they put themselves in so early in the game.

"There were a lot of players who started sloppily and it took them 10 to 15 minutes to get out of it. When you make that first mistake, it's important you don't make the second, the third and the fourth. It just seemed that we weren't at the races."

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