Cheltenham 1 Notts County 4

Whaddon Road

Notts County ended a run of nine games without a win in emphatic style with a 4-1 victory at Division Two newcomers Cheltenham Town.

The result ended the home side's recent good run of only one defeat in six starts and allowed the visitors to jump above them and out of the bottom four.

County made an explosive start to the game by scoring two goals in the opening three minutes.

Scoring twice

Mark Stallard scored the first when he darted through a static defence to head in a free-kick by Darren Caskey, then had a hand in the second when defender Michael Duff made a mess of a backpass only moments later.

Stallard collected the loose ball and squared it for Danny Allsopp to score into a gaping net.

Cheltenham tried to find a way back into the game and County goalkeeper Stuart Garden made a good save from a Tony Naylor volley, but it was the visitors who increased their tally still further 11 minutes after the break.

A midfield mix-up between John Finnigan and Mark Yates gave Richard Liburd the chance to release Allsopp with a throughball and he rounded the goalkeeper to score.

Allsopp firing home a double

Cheltenham pulled a goal back through a Julian Alsop header from a Naylor cross after 65 minutes but County scored again three minutes from time.

Stallard collected his second of the game with a fine solo effort, beating two defenders before rolling the ball under the goalkeeper.

Dearden Pleased

"We were worthy winners and we could have had six or seven if we had used the ball better," said County boss Billy Dearden.

"Having said that, to come here and win is great but to score four as well is very impressive."

Cheltenham manager Graham Allner was less impressed by his team: "That was our worst performance of the season by a million miles.

"We have to make sure it is just a one-off and we will be working hard to do that next week."