Notts County's season had struggled to get into gear before Saturday's meeting with Yeovil Town at Meadow Lane, with some good football and promising performances being tarnished by the fact we were usually 3-0 down by that point anyway. However, after coming back from that scoreline to snatch an incredible, unbelievable point in the fifth minute of stoppage time at Bournemouth last weekend the confidence seemed to have returned to the Magpies who put on by far their most complete showing of the season against the Glovers.
The return from injury of Lee Hughes, the fulcrum of Notts last season who rifled home thirty league goals, was always going to add to this feeling of confidence in the ranks and he led the line alongside Kevin Smith, who's left foot sparked the scenes of jubilation at Dean Court. With Notts having resisted the lure of Derby County's bids for Ben Davies, he started out wide, with Krystian Pearce and Graeme Lee becoming the latest partnership at the back to be given the job of stemming Notts' alarming defensive leaks.
From the first whistle it was the hosts, in their all white centenary kit, who were making all of the convincing passing moves. Excellent, quick passing between John Thompson and Hughes released Westcarr, who's deep cross was headed wide by the diving Smith. Craig Alcock was struggling to deal with the busy Davies, who was chopped down and picked himself up to bend in one of his trademark crosses, which Lee Hughes headed against the base of the post although he was flagged offside anyway.
It seemed just a matter of time before Notts' pressure told and this was the case when Jon Harley's hopeful ball towards Hughes was cleverly dummied by the Notts striker allowing Westcarr to somehow steal in ahead of the Yeovil goalkeeper and both centre backs to prod the Magpies infront. It was the third goal of the season for Westcarr who is hitting the form of his life and continues to improve in the wide right position. To score in the first half of a league game for the first time this season seemed to give everyone a visible lift and it was soon doubled thanks to a flowing move down the right flank. Westcarr, who had tormented the Yeovil left back for the first half an hour, played the ball into Hughes and ran onto the striker's audacious backheeled pass to surge into the box. A fine tackle halted Westcarr's run, leaving the winger nursing an injury he never really recovered from on the day, but the ball fell to Davies who's stinging shot was too much for John Sullivan, who's comedy attempts at keeping it out only saw it trickle in off the near post.
The visitors' only real threat seemed to be coming from corners and this nearly told when makeshift striker Adam Virgo headed wide, but their threat from open play could only be described as sporadic at very best. This allowed Notts to get a real grip on the game and hard work from Kevin Smith near the left corner saw the ball squirm to Davies, who's low shot from just inside the area trickled narrowly wide of the far post. Notts' player of last season didn't have to wait long to get his second though, with a strike of real quality. A throw in found Lee Hughes, who chested the ball down and cleverly released Kevin Smith who had the composure to slot in Davies, allowing the Notts winger to ghost past Paul Huntingdon and fire a low shot into the bottom corner.
The second half continued in much the same fashion, with Notts looking far more likely to add to their lead than Yeovil did to making a game of things. Westcarr volleyed over the bar after Jon Harley and Davies worked the ball well down the left flank and Lee Hughes took time out from having his shirt pulled by the visiting defence to tee up Westcarr again, this time the Notts winger bending a 25 yard shot inches wide of the far post. Hughes was the next to come close, racing clear of the defence but only managing to poke the ball past Sullivan and into the path of a defender who cleared off the line. That said, there was more than a suspicion of a shirt pull as the Notts forward broke free. It was never likely to matter though and after Sullivan made a fine save from a Graeme Lee header, Hughes got his goal to put the icing on the Meadow Lane birthday cake. A neat passing move saw Davies pick up space in the middle of the park and his beautifully lofted through ball found Hughes, who chested down and unleashed a left footed volley that gave Sullivan little chance. Davies was like a man possessed in the closing stages as he tried to find his hat-trick goal, but after being awarded a free kick in the kind of range he likes he could only bend a superb effort just wide of the far post with Sullivan nowhere near.
Notts County 4 (Westcarr '24, Davies '29, '45, Hughes '73)
Yeovil Town 0
Notts Co - Nelson, Thompson, Lee (Chilvers), Pearce, Harley, Westcarr (Spicer), Ravenhill, Bishop, Davies, Hughes, Smith (Jervis)
Yeovil T. - Sullivan, Alcock, Huntington, Stam, Smith, Ayling (Stewart), Tudor-Jones, Kalala, Welsh, Virgo, Freeman (Calver)
Attendance - 6,288