NOTTS County were held to a 1-1 draw by their League One promotion rivals Crawley Town at Meadow Lane today.
Captain Neal Bishop fired the Magpies 1-0 ahead early in the first half with his fifth goal of the season.
But Jonathan Forte, who has enjoyed three great loan spells at Meadow Lane in his career, came back to haunt Notts with the equaliser on the stroke of half-time.
After two good away wins at Portsmouth in the FA Cup and Colchester United in the league, the Magpies were entirely unchanged to face Crawley.
Defender Alan Sheehan returned to the squad from injury, but he was named on the subs' bench as Jeff Hughes once again started at left-back, alongside Gary Liddle, Dean Leacock and Damion Stewart in defence, in front of No.1 goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski.
Bishop and Andre Boucaud were paired together in central midfield and in front of those two were the attacking trio of Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Francois Zoko and Alan Judge, while leading-scorer Yoann Arquin led their attack.
Notts were first to threaten on ten minutes.
Liddle sent Campbell-Ryce racing down the right and he swung a dangerous cross into the penalty area that Arquin headed over the bar from close range.
The Magpies then scored to take a 1-0 lead on 12 minutes.
It was a great goal too, as Campbell-Ryce swept forward and slipped a pass through into the box for Bishop.
He timed a forward burst brilliantly to beat the offside trap and coolly stroked the ball past Crawley goalkeeper Paul Jones.
Campbell-Ryce then forced Jones into a good save with a powerful strike from inside the penalty area two minutes later and Jeff Hughes prodded an effort just wide from a corner on 15 minutes.
Notts were well on top and Arquin should have doubled their lead on 19 minutes, but headed Campbell-Ryce's right-wing cross over the bar from inside the six-yard box.
Crawley hit back through Nicky Adams as the midfielder hit a soaring shot just over the bar on 21 minutes and then forced Bialkowski into a good save with another good strike from the edge of the penalty area three minutes later.
The Magpies were quickly back on the attack though, and Bishop almost connected with Judge's left-wing cross into the box and 29 minutes and Liddle drove a low shot narrowly wide of Jones' right-hand post a minute later.
Bialkowski then made a good save to deny Crawley striker Billy Clarke on 44 minutes, parrying away his close-range header, but the visitors still equalised moments later, Adams beating Zoko and driving a low cross across the face of goal for Forte to tap in.
Having been pegged back, Notts strove for a second goal at the start of the second half and Liddle released Campbell-Ryce on 53 minutes and he raced into the box, but was stopped by Crawley captain Claude Davis.
Arquin then fired a low shot at goal from the edge of the box on 63 minutes that Jones held.
The Magpies threw on Lee Hughes for Zoko on 73 minutes and he had a glorious chance to score with his first touch just three minutes later, but headed Jeff Hughes' left-wing cross into the box wide from close range.
Notts were then denied by a great save from Jones on 78 minutes.
Lee Hughes hit a shot inside the penalty area that was blocked and the ball rebounded to Arquin, who swept it at goal, but Jones parried it away.
The Magpies continued to lay siege to the visitors' goal and Arquin smashed a shot at goal on 90 minutes, but it was blocked.
NOTTS: Bialkowski, Liddle, Leacock, D Stewart, J Hughes, Bishop, Boucaud, Campbell-Ryce (Showunmi, 88), Zoko (L Hughes, 73), Judge, Arquin. Subs: Mitchell, Williams, Sheehan, Mahon, Labadie.
CRAWLEY: P Jones, Byrne, McFadzean, Davis, Sadler, Adams, Simpson, Bulman, M Jones, Clarke (Torres, 90), Forte (Alexander, 85). Subs: Kuipers, Connolly, Walsh, Hunt, Ajose.
ATTENDANCE: 5,685 (308 away).