Notts County 2 Stockport County 1 ( Vanarama National League) Saturday 23 October 2021

 

 

 

 

Perhaps expectations were a touch excessive, after all most visits to Meadow Lane usually result in a stiff test from a home side hell bent on victory.

Today was no exception to this as County were outplayed for 94 and a half minutes of the 96 played, by a Notts County side drilled to do the basics correctly, and doing just that. Almost all their passes, no matter the situation, inevitably found a man in a black and white shirt who knew thereafter precisely what they should do with it, whereas if County had no shortage of possession at times, they appeared to be largely lacking a basic pattern to work to that went beyond the sideways pass, and the occasional long ball from Rooney.

This resulted in Simon Rusk`s side trailing 2-0 two minutes into four added minutes, when unaccountably the previously immaculately drilled home back line pressed the panic button resulting in a County penalty ( 1-2) and a welter of frenzied County attacks and corners, but it stayed the same score at the end and it really would have been pushing it a bit to say County deserved any more than they ended up getting from this game!

That 2 minutes or so was instructive forcing me to ask the question “what would have been the outcome had we sought to induce this panic earlier……say 80 odd minutes earlier? 

There was a big crowd of over 7000 inside this fine stadium at 3 o`clock with 1608 supporting County, and they were doing them proud with another massive pre-match show of support which is nicely captured in Andrew Machin`s neat video below. It brought a lump to the throat and the hint of a tear to old hedgie`s ageing eyes.

 

 

                                                   

The game started as it was going to continue with the Magpies attacking through Joel Taylor, who was to combine keeping a decent eye on Southam- Hales with getting some useful attacking moves in for his team.

 

 

 County under pressure.

 

 

 

 

County repulsed that move giving us hope of something to look forward to with a quick break that saw Kitching kept out at the last gasp by neat work from Dion Kelly-Evans. Kitching thought he had a corner from that, but Referee Robert Massey-Ellis thought otherwise.

 Tackle coming from Kelly-Evans ( Andrew Machin )

 

 

 

 

Ian Burchnall`s side kept the pressure on the blues next- Vincent seeing his shot deflected for a corner midst it all. County`s angst upped dramatically with the award of a free kick to Notts on the edge of the box, but the tension abated when Matt Palmer lumped this out.

Back came County, and the ninth minute saw them win a corner, or so Quigley thought as his shot flew narrowly wide, but he was to be disappointed- a continuing game long feature of his interplay with Mr Massey-Ellis.

 Quigley and company.

 

 

 

 

Mainly though it was the Magpies attacking- Kelly-Evans setting Ruben Rodrigues up nicely on 11 minutes. It looked a tasty moment but Rodrigues` shot narrowly missed out.

 Palmer v keeper !

 

 

This pattern of home attacks continued, interrupted briefly as a foul on Quigley ushered in a blue free kick. Palmer fancied this, but so did home keeper Tony Patterson and he prevailed.

 

This saw Notts back on the front foot, a period of pressure ending with Cameron heading wide from a corner won after Ross had pushed Rawlinson`s shot around the post.

All that said, it was not all the home side attacking, County were looking to reply through Kitching and Southam- Hales down the flanks, and the glimmer of a chance looked to have surfaced midway through the half when the former was fouled down the left. 

 

 Southam -Hales..... a good battle with Taylor !

        

 

 

The free kick offered hope and the usual suspects ( Palmer for sure) queued for it in the box, but Rooney`s delivery was poor and the attack eventually fizzled out.

By this juncture County were having to defend deep and with determination, their notional back three ( Hogan, Palmer and Keane on the left) morphed quickly into a back five with Southam -Hales and Kitching pressed into service.

Their chief tormentor was Rodrigues- a fine player who I did not see waste a ball all afternoon, forcing a corner but insinuating himself in behind the blue rear guard. County cleared the corner ushering in their best moment of the half as Hogan surged forward turning defence into attack.

 

 Hogan on the charge !

 

 

 

 

 Croasdale was fouled from this, and County were hugely disappointed to see Quigley`s shot cleared off the line by   Cameron with the keeper beaten.

 

 Timely clearance by Cameron !

 

 

 

 

The Magpies replied with 5-6 minutes of solid pressure with Rodrigues,  Vincent and Taylor going close , Southam- Hales doing good work to stem the tide.

But the tide was still flowing Ross`s way and the usually clinical Wootton was bearing down on the County keeper on 34 minutes. A goal looked likely, but Ross got his hands to the ball pushing it to safety!

 Wootton v Ross I (Andrew Machin )

 

 Wootton v Ross II ( Andrew Machin )

 

 

 

 

 

Ross was there again saving from O`Brien 2 minutes later, and Rodrigues a minute on from this.

It went on….Palmer hooking Taylor`s cross out of the danger zone as Notts piled the pressure on.

Eventually County were able to fashion a reply via a free kick which saw Quigley and Cameron contesting the same patch of ground inside the home box. Quigley went down as did the Notts number four, but his penalty claims were waved away by the Referee much to his obvious annoyance.

With 5 minutes of the half left, Madden, who had sustained a knock, was replaced by Sarcevic, as County looked to be ending the half attacking their opponents with Croasdale and Quigley in the van, but both were disappointed to see the ball fizz just wide.

 

 Sarcevic on for Madden (Andrew Machin )

 

 

 

This continued with Rooney`s raking long ,ball sending Crankshaw on a run  only to see Kelly-Evans in position to sort matters for Notts with an immaculate defensive tackle. Southam -Hales lifting a shot over the bar to end a period of County pressure.

 

 Crankshaw blocked ( Andrew Machin )

 

 

 

 

Notts came back at County in added time with Rodrigues forcing the pace. The pass on to Taylor looked good, and better as he sent the ball heading goal ward where Wootton lurked menacingly. It was another chance for the normally reliable striker, but he fluffed it, and the teams went in at the break with the score still 0-0.

Now some crowd shots:-

 

                                                                                                

 

 

 

 

And some from Andrew Machin :-

 

 

 

The second half started as the first finished with Notts attacking with Vincent prominent down the right. His pass found Kelly-Evans in a decent scoring position but he lifted his shot wide.

That said, I was telling myself that County looked to be a touch livelier than in the first 45- fuelled by  a Quigley  run that brought us a free kick on the edge of the box. Patterson kept this out under pressure, but Palmer sent the ball back the keeper`s way again where Quigley`s header was deflected for a corner. 

 The Quigley header.

 

 

This saw Keano vying for it at the near post only for the move to founder when Sarcevic was flagged offside.

 

 Keane at the near post with Sarcevik.

 

 

More pressure on the blue back line followed, and they weathered the initial storm only to founder big time as Vincent probed for an opening down the right. Again he picked out a colleague with his pass , and this time it was Wootton and he made no mistake this time finding the net with a neat finish. County were 0-1 down!

 

 Wootton makes it 1-0 to Notts ( Andrew Machin )

 

 

 

 

Stung by that last action perhaps, County replied Southam – Hales pace winning County a corner, Crankshaw also doing well to win a free kick. 

 

 Crankshaw did well ( Andrew Machin )

 

 

 

 

 

But both of these found Patterson in position to command his area and clear any danger, which almost immediately switched ends as Notts almost nicked one on the break. 

 

Patterson`s !

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County survived that last trauma and looked about to maybe hit back but in doing so a 50/50 twixt Quigley ( who was looking to make a break) and Kelly-Evans ended with both players on the ground. Kelly-Evans made something of a four courser of it , enough to whet Mr Massey-Ellis`s appetite anyway and , to the accompaniment of the home specs loud encouragement the ref waved a yellow in Quigley`s direction. It could have been worse I suppose , the home crowd wanted red, but as I say it was 50/50  and unworthy of a card of any colour in my view!

 Kitching attacking down the left.

 

 

 

That last action was immediately in vivid relief with the sight of Kelly -Evans going right through Kitching as he attacked down the left. No card that I saw, just some County pressure for a while culminating in the almost mandatory break by  Wootton for Notts , and he made County pay for some sloppy work , his pass returning the compliment to Vincent who doubled the home side`s advantage!

 Vincent makes it 2-0 ( Andrew Machin )

 

 

 

 

It was at this point that the tributes to Jim Gannon surfaced from many in the County following , as another County attack petered out neutered by solid defending from the Magpies.

Whitfield was on for Quigley next as County looked to reply only for Crankshaw`s run to be abruptly curtailed by good work from Cameron, who was there again a minute or so later rising up unchallenged to head a blue corner clear.

 

 Whitfield on for Quigley (Andrew Machin )

 

 

 

Another corner came County`s way not long after, Keane slipping the ball nicely into Rooney`s path, but the shot from County`s number eight cleared the bar.

It was not that County weren`t winning corners and free kicks, they were but they were doing next to nothing with them, giving Patterson catching practise which he took full advantage of.

Catch by Patterson ( Andrew Machin )

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, at the other end of the park the Magpies continued to look for a third goal, Ross doing well to tip a Wootton header over the bar with 4 minutes normal time left.

Notts switched Mitchell for Rodriguez in added time, Mitchell announcing himself with a snapshot that just missed the target.

Palmer was now operating as a makeshift centre forward and with County attacking, Sarcevic  went down clutching his head having made contact with a defender.

 

 Nicoli Sarcevic.

 

 

The Referee pointed to the spot and Whitfield duly put the spot kick home making the score now 1-2, and apparently reducing the previously solid home back line to a veritable collection of quivering jellies!

 

 

 Whitfield`s pen makes it 1-2.

 Whitfield lines it up ( Andrew Machin )

 .....and makes it 1-2 ( Andrew Machin )

 

 

 

Suddenly it was summer for County…..as panic overcame Ian Burchnall`s men, but despite a clutch of late/late corners County could not  square this particular circle, and really they hardly deserved to.

That was not good at all, and in fact pretty poor bearing in mind the amount of money we are spending on the team and off the park staff.

A clutch of relatively` easier` games are upcoming now for us, but if we are to win these we will have to shape immeasurably better than we recently have if we are to avoid another season at this level in 2022-23.

 

Notts County line up:-

Patterson, Cameron, Rawlinson, Brindley, Taylor, Kelly-Evans, Palmer, O`Brien ( Roberts 76), Vincent, Rodrigues ( Mitchell 90), Wootton.

Subs not used: Chicksen, Francis, Nemane.

 

Stockport County line up :-

Ross, Hogan, Palmer, Keane, Southam-Hales, Kitching, Croasdale, Rooney, Madden ( Sarcevic40), Quigley ( Whitfield 70), Crankshaw.

Subs not used: Hinchliffe, Collar, Pye.

Attendance : 7418 ( 1608)

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