Magpies climb to third after dominating first-half display

Chesterfield 1 (Westcarr 52)
Notts County 3 (Burgess 21, Judge 38, Talbot (og) 88)

Martin Allen was full of praise for his on-form County side after they overcame Chesterfield on their first visit to the newly built B2net stadium on Saturday to move to third in League One.

Ben Burgess made his sides early dominance count giving the Magpies the lead with his strong header mid-way through the first half. Alan Judge then doubled the lead at the break with his first goal of the League One campaign.

The Spireites came back into the game in the second half and Craig Westcarr's strike against his former club soon after the restart gave the hosts a much needed boost.

It was a jittery second period for the away side but substitute Sam Sodje helped to secure all three points. His late finish was well saved but forced an own goal from defender Drew Talbot to round off the scoring.

The first twenty minutes of the match brought several openings for County and the first goal never looked far away. It came when Magpies’ midfielder Gavin Mahon found space to send a pin-point delivery into the box. Burgess rose high to nod into the bottom corner with the diving Spireites’ keeper Greg Fleming unable to stop the ball going in.

Notts doubled the deficit when Neal Bishop found Judge in behind the Chesterfield back four. The Irishman composed himself before hitting a low and powerful shot past Fleming to make it two.

Early in the second half Westcarr was picked out by midfielder Mark Allott's curved delivery from the left flank. The Nottingham born striker controlled well and rifled past Magpies’ keeper Stuart Nelson to give the home side a flicker of hope.

But it was Notts who secured the victory late on when Lee Hughes broke down the right to cross for Sodje. The Nigerian’s shot was saved initially but then went in off right-back Talbot to send the 2,000 travelling away fans back to Nottingham smiling.

Notts play Brentford next at Meadow Lane on Saturday 22 October. Kick-off is at 3pm.