Jones won't chastise Stech despite error for Magpies equaliser

The Luton stopper came charging rashly off his line to try and claim a free kick he was never going to win on the hour mark, with ex-Newcastle United forward Shola Ameobi nodding into the empty net to level the scores.

Although frustrated with the manner of the goal, Jones said: “The only tinge of disappointment was that it was reminiscent of the Blackpool thing, one silly mistake, too flat a ball to come for, but he’s been magnificent Marek.

“For me he’s the best keeper in the league, so one little error, we can’t berate him too much.

“We’re not going to chastise him too much if he makes the odd error, he’s probably made two errors this season which have cost us four points, the one at Cheltenham, and the one here, so as long as he doesn’t make too many of those,

“But he’s a fantastic keeper, an outstanding keeper, and we just don’t want to do that, as that’s a similar mistake to last year.

“We want to improve on everything we did last year and it happened in big games, but that’s the thing about big games, the margins, it’s all right when you’re six or seven up, those mistakes don’t happen.

“But in the tight games when you come up against the better sides then the margins are are really tight and you’ve got to make sure you’re right on top of them.”

The free kick itself had seen Johnny Mullins needlessly give away a foul when challenging for a high ball as well, with Jones saying: “I was disappointed with the lead up to the goal in terms of one we felt we should have had a free kick against Danny (Hylton), and then Johnny Mullins's decision to go and win it when he can’t win it.

"It’s too flat a ball, then it’s too flat a ball to try and win that one (for the goal).

“So there’s elements of frustration in it, but lets give Notts County credit as well, as it was two good sides going at each other.

Mullins himself knew the free kick he had given away was a soft one, saying: "I’ve come in and put my hands on him as such. He’s probably won it as much as I’ve fouled him, but that’s good forward play.

“I’m disappointed to give that away, but that’s little margins and then the ball’s come in and we’ve not defended it properly.

"It was a flat ball that they’ve got a nick on, we’ll have a look at that, work on it and make sure it hopefully doesn’t happen again.

“Marek’s been excellent and he was coming out and taking crosses, taking punches, he was so proactive and on the front foot, so that’s what we wanted him to be.

“It was just that one didn’t happen for whatever reason, so we’ll look at it, work on it, we won’t get hung up on it and go again."

Defender Jack Stacy also wasn't too critical of the popular Czech Republic stopper either, saying: “I think Marek is the best keeper in this league hands down.

"Maybe he should have stayed on his line, but we had 90 minutes to score a second goal, so we it’s a team effort and it’s 1-1 at the end of the day."