Doncaster Rovers 0-1 Notts County

Notts County have made it through to the semi-finals of the Johnston's Paint Trophy after a narrow 1-0 win against Doncaster Rovers at the Keepmoat Stadium this evening.

Liam Noble was the matchwinner for the visitors, powering through the home side's defence lines before drilling a low shot beyond goalkeeper Sam Johnstone late on in the game.

Conditions were far from ideal at the Keepmoat Stadium, with strong winds not helping proceedings.

The game proved uneventful in the opening stages as the action was concentrated in midfield, although Harry Forrester managed to cut in from the left before being denied by Roy Carroll early on.

Notts responded through Jake Cassidy, who picked up a cross from Mustapha Dumbuya before volleying well wide of the target at the near post.

By the half-hour mark, only efforts from Kyle Bennett and Curtis Main came close to breaking the deadlock.

Just before half-time, Bennett again came close to putting Doncaster into the lead when he curled a free kick inches wide of the post with Carroll beaten.

The start of the second half proved to be almost as quiet as the first, but Doncaster thought they had taken the lead on 68 minutes after Bennett's shot found the back of the net.

However, after speaking to his assistant, the referee disallowed the strike as it appeared that Bennett's shot had deflected off Main, who was in an offside position.

It proved a decisive moment for Notts as, six minutes later, Noble marauded down the field before driving the ball into the bottom corner from 20 yards.

Substitute Garry Thompson nearly bagged a second for County but saw Sam Johnstone save well to keep his side in contention with 10 minutes left.

Bennett had a late effort kept out by Carroll but that was as good as it got for the hosts as Notts held on to book their place in the Northern Area semi-finals.