Back On Track In Style
Notts County ran out 4-2 winners over Barnet thanks to a brace from Mike Edwards and further goals by Jon Stead and Alan Sheehan.
The Magpies had the points in the bag within the opening ten minutes as Edwards converted Adam Campbell's pull-back from close range before the former Newcastle man supplied Stead to produce a simple 12-yard finish into the bottom corner.
Sheehan added the third for County with a low strike from 25 yards but Aaron McLean pulled a goal back with a 20-yard free-kick.
Any jangling nerves were settled with ten minutes left on the clock as Edwards nodded in his second of the night from Liam Noble's corner to put the Magpies well in command.
Even a late consolation by Luke Gambin wasn't enough to take the gloss off a solid performance and a good three points which left Notts five points away from the play-off places with a game in hand.
Ricardo Moniz made four changes to his team with Izale McLeod and Stanley Aborah returning from suspension and illness respectively to take the places of Genaro Snijders and Gill Swerts.
Alan Smith and Adam Campbell also came into the side for Liam Noble, who dropped to the bench, and Curtis Thompson.
Mawouna Amevor was injured in the warm-up, meaning Thierry Audel retained his place in the starting eleven after originally being named as a substitute. Swerts took the vacant place among the substitutes.
The Magpies knew they needed to start quickly after being beaten at home by Northampton at the weekend and they got off to the perfect start as Graham Burke whipped a cross over to the back post, where Campbell squared across the six-yard box to give Edwards a tap-in for his fourth goal of the season after five minutes.
Within two minutes Notts had a second. Burke was again involved, spraying a cross-field pass to Campbell who laid a first-time pass into the path for Stead to coolly side-foot past Jamie Stephens to score in successive games and double the lead with the visitors left shell-shocked by the ferocity of Notts' performance in the opening ten minutes.
Curtis Weston's free-kick from 25 yards forced Carroll to palm the ball around the post with a sprawling save whilst a shot from the edge of the area by Burke crept the wrong side of the post.
Aborah was lucky to avoid injury when we was on the receiving end of a poor challenge by Sam Togwell, who was booked for the tackle.
McLeod almost drew a red card for Bondz N'Gala with the central defender tripping the returning striker as he looked to race into the penalty area. Stead's resultant free-kick lacked power and was easy for Jamie Stephens to gather in the visiting goal.
Barnet began to threaten with Batt's low effort stopped by the outstretched leg of Carroll at the near post and Michael Gash heading wide from Josh Clarke's cross.
Aborah eventually succumbed to the injury sustained from the Togwell challenge and was replaced by Noble two minutes before half-time.
Campbell teed up McLeod to strike wide early in the second half and Hewitt was at his best to deny Gambin with a sensational last-ditch challenge after the Barnet substitute had turned inside Sheehan and looked set to get a shot in on goal.
Campbell could have made the game safe as he scampered away onto Noble's incisive pass from a Barnet corner but was denied by the goalkeeper.
Burke tried a spectacular overhead kick at the far post from a Campbell cross but screwed the effort wide before Noble headed off-target from six yards under pressure from a visiting defender and had a 25-yard shot was caught by Stephens.
A fierce free-kick by the experienced McLean was punched over his own bar by Carroll in a rare Barnet attack.
Notts appeared to have made the game safe as a 25-yard free-kick was rolled to Sheehan and the defender's shot rolled past Stephens and into the bottom corner to make it 3-0.
However, the Bees pulled one back immediately through McLean, whose low free-kick somehow evaded everyone to creep into the back of the net.
But the scoring wasn't finished there. Edwards thumped a header past Stephens from Noble's corner to take his tally for the season to five with all of them coming in Tuesday night matches.
The visitors had the final say with Gambin's effort from 12 yards taking a deflection to wrong-foot Carroll but it was too little too late as Notts registered a seventh home win in their last nine matches at Meadow Lane.
Notts: Carroll; Hewitt, Edwards, Sheehan, Audel; Burke (Murray, 73), Smith, Aborah (Noble, 43), Campbell; Stead (Snijders, 90), McLeod.
Subs not used: Loach, Swerts, Sprockel, Milsom.
Attendance: 3,098 (199 away)