Notts County 1 Accrington Stanley 0

But I sincerely hope their life is easier than John Coleman's has been during this campaign.

If the happy couple go through as many peaks and troughs as the Stanley manager has this season, the honeymoon period will be over only too quickly.

Too many times in this campaign, Stanley have lost the first goal and ended up giving themselves a mountain to climb.

And they did it once again at a boisterous Meadow Lane.

The club had special permission to open The Kop end of the ground and reduced admission so the Magpie fans would flock to see their team perform an escape act.

It's a shame that County don't put as much effort into their pitch as they do in their promotional ideas because their playing surface was a sad and scruffy mess after Nottingham's rugby union side had churned it up.

But the pitch wasn't the only one wearing the scars of battle at the end. Stanley's defence had plenty of those to bear after coming up against veteran striker Jason Lee.

The former Forest star battered and bruised the Reds backline in the first 45 minutes and his wayward elbows gave at least one Stanley defender a headache.

They would probably have preferred to come up against his namesake Bruce.

But, as so often this season, Stanley had a hand in their own demise - especially in the first half - and gave the Magpies some assistance in escaping from the drop zone that they didn't warrant or deserve.

Defensive hesitancy and a lack of concentration again haunted Coleman's side and again, ultimately, cost them another three points that they should have been more than capable of winning.

Their first-half performance was woeful at best, and a lack of quality in the final third didn't help when Stanley had County on the back foot.

Coleman made three changes to his side, two of them enforced, with Darran Kempson, Leam Richardson and Shaun Whalley dropping out for Graham Branch, David Mannix and Sean Webb.

Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington was in the stands to watch Sean Webb, but Stanley's rearguard in the opening stanza was leaky at best.

County pinned the Reds back in their own half and only some desperate defending kept Stanley in the game.

Kenny Arthur was called into action after 13 minutes. Ian Craney was clattered from behind in the Magpies' half, only for the referee Carl Boyeson to wave play on, and the ball broke to Myles Weston.

He fed the ball into Lee, whose shot fizzed off Graham Branch's studs, but Kenny Arthur got his body in the way.

County continued to throw the kitchen sink at Stanley and Webb must have felt like he'd been hit by the full house when he had his nose broken in a clash with Lee.

He came off covered in blood and returned just in time for County to take the lead.

And again, it was abject defending that let Stanley down.

The Reds failed to deal with a corner and the ball eventually fell to Ryan Jarvis, who had his initial shot blocked, but the Stanley defence gave him the freedom of Meadow Lane and he had the time to pick his spot and bury the ball in the bottom corner.

It was a terrible goal to give away and would have hurt all the more as Stanley seemed to have ridden the initial storm.

Drastic times call for drastic measures and Coleman made two changes at the break.

And it was one of his subs, Shaun Whalley, that gave the visitors the edge they were so badly missing.

The quicksilver forward ran the Magpies backline ragged and gave Stanley something they'd been so sadly missing - a cutting edge.

Every time Stanley got the ball down, they looked like they could hurt County.

But those times were all too fleeting and the quality of the delivery was rarely good.

Whalley showed the first glimpse of his ability nine minutes after the break as Paul Mullin won a flick-on from Arthur's long punt down field.

The Stanley man picked up the second ball but flashed his shot from distance just wide.

Then, Robert Grant screwed a dreadful shot well wide as the ball broke for him on the edge of the box.

But another sub, County's Lawrie Dudfield, was causing similar consternation at the other end.

He wriggled in between two defenders before unleashing a wicked shot at Arthur, which he did well to block and recovered the rebound.

Then it was Whalley's turn to shine again as he ran at the heart of the County defence, weaving inside a couple of striped shirts, but he dragged his shot just wide of the post.

But, just as Stanley looked as if they were starting to build up a head of steam, they almost got caught out and Phil Edwards was forced to take one for the team.

The Reds lost the ball just inside the County half and it was fed into the pacy Weston who had the legs on Edwards and Graham Branch and half a field to run into.

But Edwards stopped Weston in his tracks with a clumsy challenge and, despite calls for a red card for a professional foul, he received a yellow for his troubles.

Then came the chance for Stanley to salvage a point, but unfortunately they squandered it.

Again, Whalley crafted the chance as he drove inside Stephen Hunt and played a sublime ball into Mullin with the outside of his foot.

But, from no more than three yards out, Stanley's top scorer shanked his effort and the ball came off his shin, went sideways and out for a throw-in.

In the dying moments, Richard Butcher went close for County and Ian Craney and Grant had efforts for the Reds, but it was Ian McParland's side who hung on for the points.

The Meadow Lane crowd erupted at the sound of the final whistle and the 101 hardy Reds fans quietly gathered their flags and made their way to the exits.

It leaves Stanley to rue another frustrating afternoon and another chance lost against one of the division's struggling sides.

So the quest for the magical 50-point mark will go on for at least another week.