Martin Paterson warns against getting carried away as Notts County beat Crawley

Notts County boss Martin Paterson stressed his men would not be getting carried away after their 2-1 victory at 10-man Crawley and said they had much still to work on.

Second-half goals from Jodi Jones and Alassana Jatta gave Notts their first win in five league outings, substitute Harry McKirdy replying for Crawley with a stoppage-time goal.

The win lifted Notts into the play-off places but Paterson was keen to stay grounded, and was irked by new keeper James Belshaw being denied a clean sheet on his debut having joined from Harrogate.

Paterson said: “It’s an important three points for us, the fans have come a long way but we have Crewe at home next in a big game for us.

“We cannot get carried away – there’s so much we need to improve but I can’t say publicly what.”

Paterson felt certain that Belshaw deserved a clean sheet, but admitted his players did his job for him in the dressing room afterwards.

He said: “They were raging at not taking the ball into the corner and also not blocking the set play.”

Crawley’s longest winless run under boss Scott Lindsey now stands at 11 games, and he felt that once again they were hard done by as far as the officiating was concerned.

Midfielder Klaidi Lolos, on his return to the club on loan from Peterborough, was shown a straight red card just after the hour mark for pushing Oliver Norburn and Lindsey said: “Once again we’re talking about officials.

“We feel hard done by. Klaidi pushed him (Norburn) away after the player stood on his foot.

“We had a goal ruled offside in the first half that shouldn’t have been, and even Martin Paterson said we should have had a penalty when Jay Williams was clearly pushed.”

Lindsey, who made six changes, has signed 10 players already in January and admits there is no time for the new arrivals to gel and bed in.

The Red Devils, who last won 10 weeks ago, are only a point above the relegation zone and Lindsey confessed: “There’s no time for them to gel – they must hit the ground running.

“We have got to get a certain amount of wins in our last 20 games.

“We showed a fighting spirit, and didn’t throw the towel in even with 10 men, but we need to be better in both boxes.”