There was a certain sense of deja vu in the air at 6pm on Saturday after Notts had, for the second time this season, found themselves comprehensively played off the park by an expensively assembled Huddersfield Town side. Previously, Lee Clarke's Terriers came to Meadow Lane on the opening day of the season and gave Notts a lesson in the step up to League One football. This time the repurcussions could be much serious, with the Magpies now perilously sat just two points above the League One relegation zone.
The warning signs were there for all to see almost immediately from kick off as the Huddersfield side poured forward and sliced open a static Notts defence. Gary Roberts jinked his way to the by-line and cut the ball back for Arsenal loanee Benik Afobe, but he scuffed his shot from just six yards and Stuart Nelson was able to beat the ball away. Craig Westcarr did briefly show a glimmer of life for Notts as he beat Peter Clarke before stinging the palms of the home side's goalkeeper, but the first half was almost all one way traffic.
Scott Arfield forced Nelson into a smart save from a tight angle, before Afobe fired wastefully into the side netting. Rhodes tested the increasingly involved Nelson again before Bolton loanee Danny Ward also tested the former Leyton Orient 'keeper. It always seemed like it was going to be just a matter of time until Huddersfield opened the scoring though and so it proved as an incisive through ball split open the Notts defence and Benik Afobe was able to race clear and cross for the unmarked Rhodes, with Nelson stuck in no man's land.
Nelson had to deny both Ward and Joey Gudjonsson as the half wound down, with Notts having been severely outplayed for the opening forty five minutes. The onslaught continued after the break as Ward forced a fine save out of Nelson, but in the space of four second half minutes the game was over. Firstly Rhodes broke clear down the left and crossed for Gary Roberts, who was able to lift the ball over Nelson without a Notts defender occupying the same postcode. Then more hap-hazard defending allowed Afobe to pull the ball across for Rhodes, who sealed the win. The hosts continued to create chances for the rest of the game but were denied by a combination of Nelson's acrobatics and poor finishing, whilst substitute Njogu Demba-Nyren had Notts' best effort with a stunning 30-yard strike that curled inches past Ian Bennett's far post.