MATT Hamshaw said performing well but losing has been the story of Notts County's season, after defeat at Rotherham.

The winger felt the Magpies dominated for long spells at the Don Valley Stadium, but got hit by two sucker punches in the 2-1 loss.

He was given a free role in a 4-3-3 formation in the first half, in which Myles Weston and Jonathan Forte both went close to breaking the deadlock before Mark Hudson struck in the closing minutes for the home side.

He said: "I thought our game plan worked excellently in the first half until we conceded the goal.

"It's the story of our season that we have a couple of chances, with Myles (Weston) hitting the bar and Jonathan Forte producing a great save from their keeper, but then fall behind. It was frustrating to go in 1-0 down at half-time and I'm sure it was the same for the fans.

"We were down at half-time but we knew we would create more chances if we kept going.

"We were probably the better team in the second half too, but got hit by another sucker punch."

Forte reduced Notts' arrears with his eighth goal for the club.

"We should probably have nicked a draw in the end. We had a couple of chances after Jonathan scored," added Hamshaw.

"It's so frustrating as players to perform quite well and lose. It's different when we let ourselves down, like we did against Chester.

"But we produced a good performance against Rotherham and we are all gutted we have lost a game of football again."