Notts County 1-0 Scunthorpe

Notts scraped a crucial, morale-boosting win against struggling Scunthorpe United at Meadow Lane today. Dean Leacock's first goal for the club, following good work from Jeff Hughes and Neal Bishop, saw Notts earn their second win in five. Reeling from their poor performance against Preston in midweek, the Magpies were boosted by the return of Leacock and Alan Judge. Jamal Campbell-Ryce and Manny Smith were dropped, while Yoann Arquin was preferred to Francois Zoko up front alongside Enoch Showunmi.

The game started with Scunthorpe on the attack, and within the first minute, Iron skipper Paul Reid's effort was blocked by Haydn Hollis and resulted in a corner, which came to nothing.

Two minutes later, Hughes found Judge, but the ensuing shot was skied well over, and not long after, another Notts break was halted for offside.

Notts kept pushing forward in these initial stages, and a cross by Arquin from the left wing flew towards the Iron goal, but was easily caught by keeper Eirik Johansen.

On nine minutes, Scunthorpe split the Notts defence open, courtesy of Mark Duffy's ball, but Akpo Sodje was denied by Bartosz Bialkowski.

Scunthorpe pushed forward in the ensuing period, but the Notts defence was in good shape and form, in particularly the reinstated Leacock whose powerful headers kept the ball away from causing too much trouble.

As a whole, the team seemed very composed in the opening twenty minutes, with a lot more cohesion than on Tuesday, but up front there were still issues.

On 21 minutes, a Scunthorpe backpass wasn't penalised, to the chagrin of the Notts crowd, and from the ensuing counter-attack the Iron nearly scored, but Hollis' good clearance ensured it came to nothing.

Two minutes late, a seemingly speculative long ball from Alan Sheehan found Hughes, who held the ball up against the Scunthorpe defenders and got a shot in, but stifled as he was, he got no real power on it and was dealt with easily by Johansen.

On the half hour mark, Showunmi held up the ball well and passed to Hughes, the Northern Irishman's through-ball just a tad too heavy for Arquin.

For the other side, the former Notts player Karl Hawley broke clean through, but was given offside on 32 minutes.

As the trumpet entertained the Kop supporters with a rendition of Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Notts were finally given a free-kick, which Judge took but came to nothing.

Notts kept soaking up the Scunthorpe pressure, as attacks kept coming their way, but the defence was up to the challenge.

On 38 minutes, a crunching Reid challenge saw a cacophony of boos ring throughout the stands and the Iron skipper booked.

As the half wound down to a close, Notts had some brilliant chances, as a Sheehan free kick was headed on by Johansen. Not long after, Arquin headed just wide, gasps and applause the reaction of the Meadow Lane faithful.

On 40 minutes, Arquin once again tried his luck, but his volley went high above the goal.

Hawley, for Scunthorpe, then had another chance but was once again well wide, while for Notts, Hughes curled his shot wide after a good ball by Andre Boucaud.

After the half-time break, Notts were first on the attack, but Arquin didn't connect well with Hughes' cross, his header flashing well wide.

For Scunthorpe, Michael Collins played Sodje through on 48 minutes, but his shot was skied.

Judge, reinstated to the team after his injury, raised the roof with his crunching tackle, but got booked for his troubles.

On 53, Arquin beat his marker, but his cross was incredibly wayward and was greeted by howls of disbelief by the Notts crowd, while a minute later, the same reaction greeted Showunmi as he tried (and failed) to batter through the Iron defence when he could have played a long ball to Bish.

Karl Hawley then missed several more chances for Scunthorpe, as a very risky and miscued interaction between Bart and defence led to the former Notts player firing wide from about five yards, while just two minutes later, the keeper rushed out of his goal too soon to thwart an Iron chance, but once again Hawley miscued his lob and there was no danger.

On 70 minutes, the ineffective Arquin was replaced by Zoko, and a Sheehan corner was headed over by Leacock. Better from Notts, and a sign of things to come.

Finally, Notts managed to breach the Scunthorpe defence and went a goal up, courtesy of Zoko's fiery run and hold-up play on the left wing, which was deflected for a corner. Judge's set piece was very deep, but it was nodded back towards goal, Bishop got a touch and it fell to Leacock, who blasted from six yards.

The last ten minutes saw two Academy players come on. Greg Tempest made his debut, coming on in the place of Andre Boucaud, and the wild-haired youngster made an immediate contribution, his cross on 84 being deflected for a corner.

Meanwhile, Showunmi, who played a very good game, was given a standing ovation as he came off for Tyrell Waite.

Scunthorpe desperately tried to push forward in a bid to try and get something from the game, but Notts remained disciplined and never looked like conceding in the final few minutes. In fact, the Magpies nearly grabbed a second, as a beautifully rudimental "route one" saw Waite connect on Bart's long goal kick, but Johansen was first to it.

The final whistle was greeted with relief and cheers, as Notts fans felt redeemed after the dire display on Tuesday.

Truth be told, the play-offs seem a tad out of reach at the moment, given that we're six points behind the top six, and the fifth and sixth-ranked teams, Swindon and Yeovil, and the teams immediately below us, MK Dons and Crawley, each have two games in hand, but you never know what might happen. Notts sit in 11th place with 57 points.