Match Report: Notts County revival continues with Crawley Town soundly beaten

The Notts County revival is well and truly on. After a shocking start to the season where the Magpies looked unfit for purpose in League Two, Harry Kewell's last four games have now yielded eight points in the shape of two wins and two draws.

Following the 2-1 win over Crewe Alexandra at the weekend, Notts followed it up with an even more impressive 3-1 win over Kewell's former employers Crawley Town, a feat made more remarkable by the fact they finished the game with 10 men.

After just nine minutes played at Meadow Lane, the hosts took the lead with their first serious attack, as Lewis Alessandra beat keeper Glenn Morris to Jon Stead's pass and laid the ball off to Kane Hemmings, who duly slotted home into an empty net.

The goal arguably came against the run of play and Crawley enjoyed a bright spell after the restart, but they were once again caught out by Notts as Stead latched on to Elliott Hewitt's header over the top to drive a shot into the bottom corner and double their lead just after the half-hour mark.

Crawley came close to halving the deficit late on in the first half as Jack Payne saw a long-range shot cannon off the woodwork with stopper Ross Fitzsimons rooted to the spot, but come the half-time whistle County continued to boast a healthy advantage.

On the hour mark, Jack Payne was lucky not to see red for blatantly pulling back Alessandra on the edge of the box, while five minutes later, Rob Milsom was sent off for a heavy lunge on Joe Maguire that the Crawley loanee could have few complaints about.

Despite the beginnings of some nerves showing, Notts settled them in style as substitute Nathan Thomas curled a 20-yard free-kick over the wall and into the lower reaches of the net for an unassailable three-goal advantage, though Dominic Poleon did grab a consolation in the 90th to deprive the hosts of a clean sheet.

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