Ian Burchnall revealed how he used Grimsby Town's shock defeat at home to Maidenhead to inspire his Notts County players at half-time in their win against Altrincham.
The Magpies ran out 3-0 winners at Meadow Lane as they turned on the style in the second half to book a play-off spot for the third consecutive season. Goals from Callum Roberts, Kyle Wootton and Ruben Rodrigues sealed the victory which leaves Notts needing just a point to book a home quarter-final.
That is more than likely to be against sixth-placed Grimsby who suffered a shock defeat at home to Maidenhead where they were 2-0 down at the interval. And Burchnall said he used that score to give motivation for his players at half-time knowing that finishing fifth in the table gives Notts the luxury of playing the Mariners at home.
"Very rarely do I look at other results or league tables, but I said to the players at half-time that Grimsby were behind," he said. "Chesterfield lost and a win for us more or less brings us back to Meadow Lane in the play-offs so we needed that bit of extra pressure in the second half to step up. That just gave the players the incentive to just turn the screw."
Burchnall was happy with Notts' performance in which they dominated from start to finish and could have scored in the first half only to be denied by the woodwork Jayden Richardson and Wootton both hit the bar before Notts moved through the gears after the break to seal a convincing win.
Burchnall added: "It was a brilliant game from us. We had full control against a decent side who really try to play and can cause problems. We created chances in the first half when we hit the bar a couple of times.
"When we went in front at 1-0 we didn't sit back and looked for more. It's encouraging that some of our best performances have been against the better sides, like Alty, who come to play. We've still got things we can work on defensively, but that comes with the territory of being an attacking side."
