Ten Men Notts Edged In Thriller

Notts County 2-3 Chesterfield (EFL League Two) 14.03.2026

As bizarre a sending off as there’s ever been….

Saturday’s EFL League Two lunch-time kick-off, between Notts County and Chesterfield, was less than twenty minutes old when the hosts’ Oliver Norburn saw red, in bizarre circumstances.

County, chasing automatic promotion, were playing host to play-off hopefuls Chesterfield, at Meadow Lane, and it would be the Spireites’ Albanian midfielder, Armando Dobra, who’d be seen to cause havoc in the opening exchanges.

Norburn was booked after just nine minutes for a foul on the visiting number seventeen, and seven minutes later, it was he who opened the scoring, Dilan Markanday’s drive forward cutting open the County defence before playing in his team-mate who cut in from the left, and found the back of James Belshaw’s net.

Three minutes later, and County were down to ten men; after a tussle on the edge of the eighteen-yard box between the two players, Dobra would be seen to lose his right boot and, as Norburn moved away from the incident, he picked up the loose piece of footwear and threw it off the field.

Play carried on briefly but, after a stoppage at the other end of the field, the referee Matthew Corlett proceeded to pull out a second, followed by brandishing the red, and send Norburn to the stands.

The hosts equalised ten minutes before the break when Sil Swinkels put through his own net, then Tom Naylor made it 2-1 to the visitors just before the break and, with added time running out, County restored parity for a second time through Matthew Platt bundled effort from close range.

Level at 2-2 at the interval, and with a red card to boot (sorry), the second half was perhaps more of a damp squib, just the one goal being netted, Liam Mandeville bagging what proved the winner for the visiting Spireites in the sixty-sixth minute, heading home Sammy Braybrooke’s cross.

County boss, Martin Paterson, didn’t panic following the dismissal, making no changes to his starting line-up until a a triple change just before the hour mark; Mandeville’s second half effort though was enough to seal the points for the visitors who moved up to seventh in the table, whilst County sit fourth, nine points off leaders Bromley, with a game in hand.

NOTTS COUNTY – James Belshaw, Rod McDonald, Matthew Platt (Lewis Macari, 57), Jacob Bedeau, Nic Tsaroulla (Alassana Jatta, 77), Oliver Norburn (R/C, 19), Matthew Palmer (capt; Tyrese Hall, 57), Jodi Jones (Maziar Kouhyar, 77), Tom Iorpenda, Harald Tangen (Keanan Bennetts, 57), Matthew Dennis

Afterwards, BBC Nottingham Sport posted of the incident saying: “Ollie Norburn’s sending off against Chesterfield for throwing Armando Dobra’s boot off the pitch this afternoon was a bizarre problem for #notts.

“Former Magpies striker Mark Stallard said ‘he’d never seen anything like that before,’ while Notts County Head Coach Martin Paterson ‘didn’t want to discuss the officials.’”

The Athletic’s Philip Buckingham added: “There are many ways for a footballer to be sent off: violent tackles, cynical professional fouls, dissent to a referee.

“But Notts County midfielder Oliver Norburn might have staked a claim for a truly unique dismissal in a League Two fixture with Chesterfield today.

“Already on a booking for an early foul in the lunchtime game at Meadow Lane, Norburn was shown a second yellow card when throwing the boot of his opponent Armando Dobra off the pitch.”

Whilst Norburn himself posted on social media saying; “I apologise to our fans, my teammates & the staff for today.

“The red card was a silly mistake & today is on me.

“As one of the more experienced players i should know better & I take full responsibility.

“Let’s stick together, keep fighting & I’ll do all I can to put it right.”

Next up for County is a trip to mid-table Accrington Stanley on Tuesday night, before hosting Cheltenham Town, at Meadow Lane, on Saturday (21 March) afternoon.