Crewe Alexandra 1 - 3 Notts County

Oh my days. Can this season get any more topsy-turvy? How many times have we been dead and buried this season? How many times have we turned a corner, only to find ourselves in the quagmire again? The saga continues with today's impressive 3-1 victory away at Crewe Alexandra.

Shaun Derry made one change from the XI that routed Carlisle United on Saturday, replacing Mustapha Dumbuya, who suffered a groin injury on against the Cumbrians, with Curtis Thompson.

Notts were quick off the blocks, Jimmy Spencer firing over with a long-range effort. Gary Liddle also threatened in early on when he got a header on target from an Alan Sheehan free kick.

In the 10th minute, the Magpies drew first blood when Jamal Campbell-Ryce's cross towards the back post was met by the head of Liddle. The ball beat Ben Garratt to give Notts the lead, much to the chagrin of the home crowd.

The away side continued to pile on the pressure in the first half, efforts from Spencer and Jack Grealish causing more panic in the Alex box.

Crewe, to their credit, nearly scored towards the end of the first half when defender Matt Tootle picked out Chuks Aneke, but the on-loan Arsenal youngster's effort flew wide of the mark.

After the break, the Railwaymen were determined to pull a goal back, and Uche Ikpeazusaw a dangerous header fly onto the roof of the net in the early stages.

JCR was a constant threat, and nearly doubled his side's lead midway through the second half, were it not for a great stop from Garratt, while at the other end, the ever-impressive Bartosz Bialkowski pulled off an amazing stop from a long range Abdul Osman howitzer.

Just when it seemed that Notts players, staff and fans would run out of self-grown keratin to nervously consume, in went the second goal to send the Magpies faithful into raptures, courtesy of Ronan Murray. Following some more great work from JCR, the 22-year-old Irishman, whose stock is constantly rising, was able to cut inside and fire a shot inside the left-hand post.

Notts made it three with just three minutes to go, and once again it was Murray, who pounced on a long ball and rounded Garratt to net his second of the game.

Crewe did manage a scant consolation in injury time, Mark Ellis's heavily deflected shot, but despite Bart's frustration at having had his clean sheet soiled, the rest of the Notts faithful could shrug it off, for the final whistle went not long after.

So then! Notts are now off the bottom! There is still work to do, because new table-proppers Stevenage have two games in hand, but the relegation battle has been blown wide open - just two points separate the Magpies from safety now.

Well, I've written Notts off several times this season - I'm sure I'm not the only one - but the club continues to defy all logic and form to keep things interesting. Can we do it? Can we stay up?

Watch this space.