It was another frustrating afternoon for Notts County at the weekend, with their hopes of League Two survival still hanging by a thread.

The Magpies knew that a win over Northampton Town on Saturday afternoon could have seen them climb out the relegation zone at such a vital stage of the campaign, albeit if results had gone their way.

And Neal Ardley's men were sent well on their way to doing so when Mitch Rose netted a sumptuous half-volley for the hosts on the half-hour mark, however they were pegged back before half-time when Daniel Powell levelled for the Cobblers.

[ad_pod ]

Notts' hopes of picking up all three points were dealt a monumental blow just five minutes into the second half, when goalkeeper Ryan Schofield was sent off for bringing down Powell, and Sam Hoskins converted the resulting free-kick.

But the Magpies fought back almost instantly, when Kane Hemmings kept up his fine goalscoring form and ultimately grabbed a point for County.

The league table looks exactly the same as it did before the weekend, but Macclesfield Town could deal Notts a huge blow in their survival hopes if they win their game in hand against Exeter City on Tuesday night.

Here, though, we take a look at two reasons why Notts can take the positives out of the weekend draw with Northampton, and use that as motivation to go on and stay up.

They showed real character

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To go down to ten men and to concede straight away from that, Notts showed magnificent character to come back from behind and level almost immediately.

It was always going to be difficult trying to keep out an impressive Northampton side who had one more man for the best part of 40 minutes, but Notts passed the test with flying colours.

They have looked solid in defence in recent weeks, and will be looking to get back to that over the next few games.

Winnable set of games ahead

If Notts can produce the same amount of character and fight over the next few games, then they will climb out of the bottom two with ease.

They have some winnable games ahead with trips to the likes of Crewe Alexandra and Crawley Town, so if they can pick up some points there and win their home games, then they will give themselves a real chance of survival.

They have been hugely impressive away from home recently, beating Carlisle United and Stevenage 3-1 and 3-0 respectively, and Ardley's men will be looking to replicate those performances over the next few weeks.