AFC Mansfield 1-3 Notts County (Notts FA Senior Cup Round Four) 21.01.20

11 times winners Notts County are through to the Quarter Finals of the Nottinghamshire Senior Cup after beating AFC Mansfield 3-1 at the Forest Town Arena last night.

A young Magpies team coached by the clubs Assistant Manager Neil Cox included Jim O’Brien who returned from injury playing 45 minutes without repercussion and they got off to a perfect start as youngster Kieran Cummings given time and space following a long pass out by Pierce Bird was allowed to turn and spin shooting low past Bulls keeper Warhurst.

That lead was doubled on 15 when Cummings was sent through by Bird in an almost identical scenario, this time forcing the goalkeeper to save as he raced through but the youngster netted the rebound to make it 2-0.

AFC however responded well and reduced the deficit on 33 when James chased a lost cause and squared to Buxton to tap home. On 42 minutes Buxton almost had a second when he headed Annables cross down low only to be denied by Notts goalkeeper Brooks.

Both sides made changes at the break as Notts pressed to put the game to bed, finally in the 71^st minute Tyreace Palmer put through after a slick move finishing hard and low with the Magpies seeing out the game to make the competitions next stages.

A good workout for Notts youngsters with the likes of Bird, O’Brien & Oxlade-Chamberlain given much needed minutes whilst AFC should be proud of their performance against a well drilled team.

After the game Neil Cox stated “I thought the first 20 minutes we were excellent, we tried to get the ball down on a difficult surface, we got sloppy at times but only had one day to prepare with the youth team players coming in and overall I thought it was a good display on a difficult surface”.

AFC Mansfield: Warhurst, Annable (McMillan 46), Slone, McGuire, Wilson, Hough, Webster (Matthews 75), Buxton, Ryan, James (Warner 66), Walker.

County: Brooks, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Betts, Bird, Marshall, Cummings (Sneddon 78), O’Brien (Wilde 46), Bucalossi, Howes, Mulvany (Smith 78), Palmer.

In the other Tuesday night County Cup tie Teversal beat Arnold Town 1-0 after extra time thanks to a 96^th minute own goal to see the North Notts based side through to the last eight.

*Main image @AFCMansfield the two teams in action at the Forest Town Arena.