Self-destructive Notts County reveal must be addressed by Stuart Maynard | OneFootball

Notts County's wretched form continued on Tuesday evening, losing a third consecutive home fixture to relegation-threatened Sutton United as their play-off ambitions were derailed further.

It leaves Stuart Maynard's side 14th in League Two with 12 games of their season remaining, still only four points off the top seven despite not winning in front of their home crowd since the turn of the year.

Worrying statistics need to be addressed

Having conceded in the opening five minutes against Gillingham in their previous fixture, you would have hoped the Magpies would have learned from their mistakes to try and keep themselves in the game early on.

But with just six minutes on the clock, Notts were undone once more by the visiting side as Stephen Duke-McKenna's cross found Ryan Jackson at the back post to squeeze the ball in at Luca Ashby-Hammond's near post to give Steve Morison's side the lead.

The strike was the tenth time that Notts have conceded a goal in the opening 10 minutes of games this season, two more than Morecambe, who are next on the list.

It has become a worrying statistic surrounding the Magpies in recent weeks and something Maynard needs to address.

He's certainly aware of it, admitting after yesterday's defeat the difficulty of getting back into a game when his side is immediately starting on the back foot.

"We've conceded within five minutes again, and no matter who you play against in this division, whether it's the bottom end of the top end, if you give that team the opportunity to go ahead against you, it's always going to be difficult," Maynard told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"We get ourselves back in the game, but then we end up killing ourselves, and it's a really poor performance tonight."

The four goals conceded against Sutton took the season total to 29 times this season that Notts have given their opponents the lead in League Two this season, only managing to equalise 14 times in response, giving them a percentage of just 48% for the season.

Over and over again, they seem to be making things difficult for themselves and if Maynard can't find a solution soon, then their promotion hopes will vanish completely.

Notts County's attacking threat does not justify league position

The defeat at Meadow Lane on Tuesday evening was the 25th time this season that three or more goals have been scored in a game involving Notts County.

Of those games, Notts have won 13, losing 11 and drawing once, with an average of 1.94 goals conceded within that time, despite the array of attacking talent at their disposal.

While the Magpies may be exciting to watch for the neutral, it overshadows a problem that runs deeper within the football club that long existed before Maynard's arrival last month. Notts are currently the division's highest scorers with 69 goals, but have also conceded the second-most in the division, only one goal ahead of yesterday's opponents, Sutton.

Between Macaulay Langstaff, Jodi Jones, Dan Crowley and David McGoldrick, the quartet has scored 56 goals this season, you could argue that they can do nothing more at the top end of the pitch.

That ultimately turns attention to the defence who have come under scrutiny on several occasions this season, managing to keep just five clean sheets this term, compared to the 17 that were achieved in the National League.

Obviously, the step in quality will have played its part this season as to why Notts are shipping more goals, but the same issues still persist from their promotion season, only now those individual errors are being ruthlessly punished.

Tuesday night saw Aden Baldwin, who had been faultless in recent weeks, underhit a back pass to goalkeeper Luca Ashby-Hammond that allowed Harry Smith the opportunity to put the visitors 2-1 up on the night.

And the fixtures don't get any easier for the Magpies, making the trip to in-form Bradford City on Saturday to take on the team with the joint-most clean sheets in the division this season.