4:57pm Saturday 6th March 2010
STEVE Cotterill made a glorious return to East Lancashire as his Notts County strolled to a routine win over Accrington at the Crown Ground.
The former Burnley boss made it three wins in three for his new side as Stanley’s play-off hopes were hit hard.
Ben Davies opened the scoring for the Magpies when he followed up after Lee Hughes had seen his penalty saved by Ian Dunbavin.
But Hughes atoned for his miss after the break when he slammed home after being gifted the ball by Phil Edwards.
And then Hughes set up Luke Rodgers to make it 3-0 after Stanley lost possession in attack.
But the game may be best remembered for the display of referee Andy Hall, who stole all the first-half attention at the Crown Ground.
The Birmingham whistler made a right mess of what should have been a simple decision midway through the first period when Stanley had the ball in the net through Darran Kempson.
Firstly Hall disallowed the goal for an Andy Procter handball but changed his mind after Stanley protests.
That set County into full moan mode - and Hall changed his mind again to rule out the effort in scenes of complete farce.
Grant forced a stretching save from Kasper Schmeichel in stoppage time - but that was too little too late.
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