If Notts County had taken a point from the meeting with Bristol City it would have been a frusttrating outcome after the dominant 90 minutes at Ashton Gate.
Instead, the Magpies left empty handed, which was heartbreaking for the team and the impressive supporters in attendance on Good Friday.
Defeat left Notts three points adrift of safety with three games remaining but manager Shaun Derry wants his players to channel their frustrations into the Monday meeting with Crawley Town back at Meadow Lane.
“For once I’m perhaps lost for words but what a cruel game we’re in,” he said.
“I can’t rant and rave, and shout and scream because we’re a team and a group of friends in there - the lads are together all the time now.
“We’ve not been very good away from home - it’s as simple as that - and we knew that we needed to put in a performance to get anything out of the game.
“They’ve got a good manager and good players, and they’ve been on a roll since Steve’s been here.
“To put in a performance of that magnitude, I think that tells a lot of stories of how far we’ve come.
“It was the best away performance of the season by a long shot and they’ve won - it’s a cruel game and absolutely heartbreaking.
“I said at Peterborough away that I don’t like taking positives when we’ve lost but we did there and I do today.
“We’ve got to make sure that the hurt and anguish goes into Monday’s game and we can channel it and make sure that we’re winners on the day.”
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