Notts County’s bid for a top-three finish in the National League was virtually snuffed out following an embarrassing 3-1 defeat at Aldershot Town.
Fourth-from-bottom Shots took the field needing to win the game to ensure they avoided relegation and they did it with ease as Notts put in a nightmare performance reminiscent of their recent 5-1 drubbing at Torquay.
Notts’ head coach Ian Burchnall made four changes to the team who had started the game at Dover on Tuesday, Vitezslav Jaros, Dion Kelly-Evans, Connell Rawlinson and Zak Brunt coming in for Sam Slocombe, Jayden Richardson, Alex Lacey and Eli Sam.
Leading scorer Kyle Wootton and on-loan Harry Arter, who missed the Dover trip, were named on the bench.
The result means Notts have still never won at Aldershot since dropping out of the Football League, but they started well and Ruben Rodrigues missed a golden chance to give them an early lead when Aaron Nemane escaped down the left and his cross found Rodrigues six yards out but he fired wide.
But the home side took the lead after eight minutes when Tommy Willard beat Adam Chicksen on the right and crossed for the unmarked Mikael Ndjoli to slide the ball home from point-blank range.
Notts won a free-kick in shooting range but Rodrigues fired high over the bar.
It was then Aldershot’s turn to be given a free-kick in an attacking position and it was floated dangerously to the far post over Notts’ defenders but there was no home one there to take advantage.
Notts enjoyed a spell of possession and the ball fell for Roberts to fire in a shot which was parried to safety by Ethan Ross.
Slack play by Sam Graham allowed the Shots to mount an attack but Notts were soon back in control, although the lack of desire to shoot saw several good opportunities go begging.
However, Notts were level in the 22nd minute when they were awarded a penalty after Rodrigues jinked his way into the box and was tripped, Roberts smashing home from the spot.
It was a deserved equaliser and Notts continued to press, and they were denied another penalty in the 30th minute when Nemane was brought down cutting into the box but their claims were waved away.
Roberts fired a free-kick into the wall as they continued to press, but Notts went behind again in the 34th minute when Rodrigues gifted the ball to Willard and he fired past Jaros.
It was a dreadful goal to concede and although Notts responded by racking up a number of corners, a combination of poor delivery and lack of height in the middle meant they came to nothing.
Kelly-Evans was booked for a late challenge on Mo Sylla before two minutes of added time ended.
Surprisingly Notts made no changes at half-time and while they were in control of the game, they continued to lack a cutting edge to cheer up the 450 travelling fans.
The home side should have been further ahead when Rawlinson’s dreadful back pass put Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong clear on goal but Jaros pulled off an excellent save to spare the centre back’s blushes.
Notts were getting nowhere as an attacking force and as frustrations grew Arter and Wootton replaced Rawlinson and Brunt, Ed Francis dropping into the defence with 35 minutes remaining.
Rodrigues had a weak header easily saved as Notts pressed for an equaliser but nothing was working for them and it was Aldershot who looked more dangerous on the counter attack.
Matt Palmer was booked for pushing a player as frustrations grew and Eli Sam replaced Nemane in the 67th minute in a desperate attempt to spark Notts into life, but the best they could muster was Arter’s curling ball into the area which Kelly-Evans headed over the bar.
Aldershot, not surprisingly, were employing all sorts of tricks to waste time but it was working as Notts were unable to find an equaliser.
Rodrigues won a free-kick which Arter took but when the ball came back to him his left-foot effort went out of the ground.
Notts’ Arter and Chicksen and Aldershot’s Jayden Harris and skipper Lewis Kinsella were all shown yellow cards as tempers frayed but Notts continued to be off the pace, Rodrigues again failing to hit the target when well placed in the box.
The next chance fell to Willard, who brought a great save out of Jaros, but substitute Sinclair Armstrong, on loan from QPR, made sure of his team’s National League survival with a thunderous finish which rounded off a dismal day for Notts, compounded by a late booking for Francis after a reckless challenge and the added-time sending off of Kelly-Evans for a second bookable offence.
Notts County: Jaros, Kelly-Evans, Graham, Rawlinson (Arter 57), Chicksen, Francis, Palmer, Brunt (Wootton 57), Nemane (Sam 67), Rodrigues, Roberts.
Unused subs: Richardson, O’Brien.
Aldershot Town: Ross, Kinsella, Lyons-Foster, Berkeley-Agyepong (Daniel 92), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jordan, Sylla, Ndjoli (Armstrong 75), Phillips, Harris, Willard (Whittingham 95).
Unused subs: Hall, Bettamer.
