County held by struggling Mariners: Match Review

Notts County suffered a severe dent to their promotion aspirations as Jamie Devitt converted a rare sight of goal to hand lowly Grimsby a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Meadow Lane.

Devitt, making his debut following a loan move from Hull, rifled in the Mariners' first meaningful chance on the stroke of half-time after being found in space by Peter Sweeney.

Lee Hughes had given County the lead after 18 minutes when he deftly headed home an inswinging free-kick from Ben Davies, although the striker was sent off for a second bookable offence late on.

County showed no signs of a hangover following their 4-0 FA Cup defeat to Fulham and should have been out of sight by the interval, with Jamie Clapham and Karl Hawley spurning chances.

That proved costly as relegation-haunted Grimsby equalised against the run of play.

It was one-way traffic in the second half, with Mariners shot-stopper Nick Colgan forced into saves to deny Stephen Hunt, Davies and Craig Westcarr.

With the game opening up, Grimsby looked to end their 22-game winless run and Michael Leary struck the bar before Hughes' late dismissal.

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