Notts County 1 - 1 Leyton Orient

Notts County survived a second-half blitz to secure a point at home against Leyton Orient in a 1-1 draw marred by a contentious penalty decision for the visitors' equaliser.

After an initial few minutes of tentative, cautious football, the game sprung into life as David Mooney's effort deflected off Curtis Thompson for a corner, from which Scott Cuthbert threatened with a header.

Shortly afterwards, Jake Cassidy set up Zeli Ismail, whose shot whistled past the back post, while Mooney, Jobi McAnuff and Reece Brown also registered efforts on goal for their respective sides, all within the first 10 minutes.

Things slowed down somewhat after the frantic opener, but both sides kept foraying into each other's areas in a bid to break the deadlock.

Eventually, the opening goal came, and it fell to the home side, courtesy of the referee awarding a penalty for a tackle on Haydn Hollis in the box.

Ismail stepped up and made no mistake from 12 yards to put the Magpies in the lead.

After conceding, the away side duly stepped up their game and pushed forward, troubling Notts on various opportunities, but were unable to breach their defenses, the half-time scoreline proving advantage Magpies.

Russell Slade was allegedly told that he had one game to save his job: this one. He must have given his team quite a stirring half-time speech, as Orient came out with serious intent after the break.

In the first few seconds of the second period, Michael Petrasso pounced on a loose Gary Jones ball before firing and nearly scoring.

He wouldn't have to wait long to put his side level, because just five minutes later, Curtis Thompson was judged to have brought down Mooney inside the area, and despite the protests, Chris Dagnall duly stepped up and struck the ball past Roy Carroll.

Notts were arguably lucky not to concede again, given the renewed efforts by the O's to seal the win and save their manager, but despite coming under siege, Shaun Derry's boys managed to contain their opposition and end the game with a draw and a valuable point.