By Joe Jones
Notts County remain second in Group G of the EFL Trophy following their 2-1 defeat against Mansfield Town at Meadow Lane on Tuesday night.
Both Kevin Nolan and Steve Evans made 10 changes to each of their squads with a view to checking out how the fringe players performed.
The Magpies were hit with an early sucker punch, however, as a mistake from Haydn Hollis allowed Lee Angol to claim the ball and rifle into the bottom corner goal from 20 yards out, beating the diving Branislav Pindroch.
Mansfield could have had a second a few minutes later, with the unmarked Paul Digby heading goalwards from a corner, only for the Slovakian keeper to claw the ball out on the line.
Notts soon found their groove and weighed in with a number of chances, though there was another scare midway through the first half when former Magpie Jimmy Spencer struck the woodwork.
The ball rebounded to Angol, who had an open goal to fire into, only for Shaun Brisley to weigh in with an impressive last-ditch tackle.
Nolan's side went on to find an equaliser through a short corner which was crossed by Liam Walker to the back post, flicked back into the centre by Brisley, and poked home by Alan Smith.
The second half saw more chances traded between both teams, but with Notts stepping it up a gear, they were once again caught out by a Stags goal courtesy of poor work at the back.
Paul Anderson's cross, rather than being firmly claimed by Pindroch, was half-heartedly punched away into the path of CJ Hamilton.
The 22-year-old controlled with his chest before smashing a right-footed effort into the roof of the net from 14 yards to seal victory for the visitors.
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