Notts held firm for 42 minutes before man of the match Ritchie Humphreys curled a peach of an effort in to give Hartlepool the lead and from then on it was downhill for the Magpies.
The second half was a complete disaster and on-form striker Adam Boyd killed things off with goals in the 54th and 56th minute. Left back Hugh Robertson grabbed the home side's fourth on 69 minutes.
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As the game got underway it was clear that Hartlepool were not only the better of the two sides, but the more keen to grab the 3 points.
First, the home side had two good chances inside the opening 10 minutes after Adam Boyd saw his shot fly over the bar and then, secondly when on-loan Blackburn midfielder Neil Danns’ free kick was hit into the safe hands of Stuart Garden.
Notts were trying to work there way into the game when David Pipe, playing his first game as a Notts County player, had a shot, though his long range effort flew over the bar. That was followed by a poor piece of pass work from Heffernan to Oakes which culminated into nothing.
Ex-Man Utd striker Matty Williams then saw his header narrowly fly past the post after latching onto an in-swinging cross from midfielder Simon Baldry.
Garden made a smart stop from Ex-Stags man Darryl Clarke on 28 minutes, while shortly after Notts captain Ian “Richo”
Hartlepool then continued to come close to breaking the deadlock, most notably the shot by Clarke which hit the post.
This eventually led to a motionless Notts back 4 watching Ritchie Humphreys knock the ball around the blameless Notts keeper, low into the bottom right hand corner of the goal in front of the travelling Notts fans...
Garden then had to make two more top-notch saves to keep the scoreline at a manageable level for Notts when Clarke, then Eiffon Williams had two further shots before half after a sloppy piece of passing from Williams (ours) which led to a corner.
Notts went in at half time, 1-0 down. The general feeling amongst the Magpie fans were that maybe, just maybe Notts would come out fighting in the second half…..
Half Time:
Notts didn't start the Second half particularly well, but still had by far their best chance of the game on 48 minutes.
Stefan Oakes- who is a confusing player as he seems to have the quality yet he gives the ball away so much- whipped in a free kick from the right which was met by former 'Pool player Tony Barras but the centre half could only direct his free header straight at home goalkeeper Lee Probert.
On 54 minutes, though, Hartlepool took a 2-goal advantage meaning Notts would now have to score three times to have any chance of survival.
This time it was Adam Boyd- singled out as a dangerman in my match preview (think on, boys!)- who fired in following a goal mouth scramble via a slight deflection off Pipe- who must now realise who he's signed away two years of his life to.
Scoffham replaced the rather ineffective Williams before things got rather depressing and Hartlepool streched their lead to 3 goals.
It was Boyd again who managed to volley his shot over the stranded Garden to send Victoria Park into raptures.
Fenton was booked for dissent on the hour, though this time you can sympathise with the defender as the linesman- sorry, referee's assistant- saw the ball go out of play, but because it meant a home side attack decided to gloss over that fact. Then he called over his minder when Fenton said something a bit naughty.
Mills made his second substitution shortly after as Parkinson replaced the quiet Paul Riley, who is destined for the exit door in the summer.
Notts then scored a goal! Seriously. But unfortunately Fenton's header from an Oakes set piece was ruled out for a suspected push. And the fact he was a Notts player didn't help.
The officiating got worse on 63 minutes as Baldry was brought down in the box for a blatant penalty, but the spineless referee- who now doubt had his Hartlepool shirt on underneath his refereeing jersey- chose to wave play on to the fury of the Notts County supporters and coaching staff.
Tall 18-year-old defender Kelvin Wilson then made his first team debut instead of the tired looking David Pipe.
The performance of the referee and linesmen was bad, but it was nothing on that of the Notts County team, who continued to disgrace themselves by conceding a fourth goal.
Left back Hugh Robertson galloped clear but while Garden managed to save his first effort he had no chance with the second and the full back slotted home to make it 4-0 with over 20 minutes remaining.
What started as at least a half-decent display from Notts had quickly descended into dissaray as the side had no shape to it whatsoever and it had quickly became a case of guessing how many the home side would score, rather than if the visitors would actually dare make a game of it.
On 76 minutes H'Pool goalkeeper Lee Probert was forced to wake up from his mid-afternoon nap as he saved well to deny, first, Heffernan and then Steve Scoffham on the follow up.
Oakes and Heffernan both had off-target efforts within a minute of each other as Hartlepool started to take the piss a little bit.
The home side managed to come close to a fifth one final time as substitute Steven Istead's cross-cum-shot cannoned back off the crossbar, but it wasn't to be and they had to settle for the four against one of the worst sides they will face this season.
FULL TIME: Hartlepool Utd 4-0 Notts County
No-one can argue that Notts don't deserve to go down after conceding 12 goals in the last 3 away games and it could've been worse had it not been for a few decent saves from Garden. Anyone that thinks we'll bounce straight back up with this lot of players is also sadly mistaken. They were a shambles today.
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