Thoughts v FGR away

[navypie]

Just got back to London from the match.

The first thing I'd like to mention is I was well impressed with our away support. I went with a mate (not a Notts fan) who lives in Reading and as we approached I offhandedly mentioned that I expected only a hundred or so Notts fans. Instead we packed the terrace along one side of the pitch. I also expected it to piss rain on us in the uncovered terrace but shortly after kick off the skies cleared and the sun came out.

And now for the football. The first half was almost all Notts, but that said, we played a hell of a lot of hoofball. While we did manage to create a few chances from the long ball, our best asset was that FG created almost nothing at all.

Our first goal was a very confusing affair. One of our players (Stead?) went down in their box and hands were all up calling for a penalty. It appeared to me as if play had stopped and players were starting to surround the ref but then suddenly the ball was in the net. Did that count? What just happened? Yes, apparently we scored.

Second half FG were hungry and we weren't matching their pace. They scored one and then almost followed it fast with another - Campbell struck it off the bar. And then we picked up the pace and it became a really good game of football with some end to end action. We almost gave it away a few times as well as took our own chances. Even though we were the stronger team in the first half, this was far more entertaining.

Our second goal was very well taken - you could feel it coming in the set up. FG tried to pressure after that and it felt a bit tense but we hung on well.

It wasn't a pretty game. A draw wouldn't have been an outlandish result, but nor was it a crime for us to take all 3. MoM for me was Tootle particularly for an excellent challenge on a FG player that saw Tootle go to ground but keep the ball and then get up and charge half way down the field with it. Most players put in a solid effort, but I will say that we were lacking in creativity.

The refereeing was terrible. As bad tackles and rough housing went unpunished the game started to get away from him as players took it as license to go further. An incident in midfield during the second half should have seen a FG player get sent off. He literally picked up one of our players off the ground and flipped him over in full view if the referee.

All in all it was a fun day out and well worth the journey. Well done Notts on getting the 3 points.

I enjoyed that read and tarks match report. Just looking forward to durham's take now.

[slack_pie]

I think 'long overdue' is an understatement! It really gets to me how we seem to save our worst performances of the season for when we play them just when we need it most. They've never looked particularly impressive against us, but we seem to hit the self destruct button and gift them the points without really making them earn them. Looking at Stagsnet tonight they seem in despair, with "Completely and utterly disappointing. Barely strung 4 or 5 passes together all game and it looks like the managerial change has knocked us for 6" being a typical comment. I think it will be down to who wants it more next week, and in the past that's been them rather than us. We know there will be 4,000+ 'diehard' Stags fans in the JS next week (although it will be the only game of the season for many of them who would struggle to name two Mansfield players if you asked them). It's about time we stood up to be counted and left them feeling that numb feeling we've felt on the short journey home.

Yeah it's crazy how badly we play against Mansfield. Even this season during our best form in pretty much a decade, we still managed to roll over. Looks like a good time to play them though.

Also, I saw a thread on Stagsnet talking about home attendances and how they are averaging around 3700 Stags fans at home this season. Don't they usually bring considerably more than that when they play at ML?

Great result yesterday, and a fantastic effort by the travelling Notts fans.

[Old_pie]

Just got back to London from the match.

The first thing I'd like to mention is I was well impressed with our away support.

Well when folk come over from Canada what else can you expect.

All in all it was a fun day out and well worth the journey. Well done Notts on getting the 3 points.

Isn't that the first time you've seen them win?

[andy6025]

Well when folk come over from Canada what else can you expect.



Isn't that the first time you've seen them win?

Well when folk come over from Canada what else can you expect.

Isn't that the first time you've seen them win?

Ah, it was all in my honour then. Very much appreciated, but would have been nice had someone offered me a chair.

...and yes, first win I've seen at a live match. Felt good leaving the stadium 3 points richer.

Some other honourable mentions from the match:

Our fans gave Hollis quite a bit of banter which was good fun - for the first half he was positioned along our side of the pitch.

Their player, Campbell, was quite the threat. He's fast, he's good and put in a hell of an effort. I don't know why he didn't start for them but instead was brought on as a sub. He also ran directly over to our stand to taunt us after he scored. Of course, we gave it right back after our second goal...'Campbell what's the score?' No idea on his status come end of the season, but if he's looking for a club Notts would do well to go after him.

Last, we brought a young kid with dark fluffy hair as a sub (my eye-sight is poor so I couldn't read the name). He didn't light up the pitch with extraordinary ability, but he put in a great effort. Once the game really got moving in the second half, it was players like him and Tootle that won us the game. In a ground-out game like yesterday it appeared that the game was decided less by skill and more by work-rate.

[navypie]

Ah, it was all in my honour then. Very much appreciated, but would have been nice had someone offered me a chair.

...and yes, first win I've seen at a live match. Felt good leaving the stadium 3 points richer.

Some other honourable mentions from the match:

Our fans gave Hollis quite a bit of banter which was good fun - for the first half he was positioned along our side of the pitch.

Their player, Campbell, was quite the threat. He's fast, he's good and put in a hell of an effort. I don't know why he didn't start for them but instead was brought on as a sub. He also ran directly over to our stand to taunt us after he scored. Of course, we gave it right back after our second goal...'Campbell what's the score?' No idea on his status come end of the season, but if he's looking for a club Notts would do well to go after him.

Last, we brought a young kid with dark fluffy hair as a sub (my eye-sight is poor so I couldn't read the name). He didn't light up the pitch with extraordinary ability, but he put in a great effort. Once the game really got moving in the second half, it was players like him and Tootle that won us the game. In a ground-out game like yesterday it appeared that the game was decided less by skill and more by work-rate.

Campbell was awful for us when he was on loan but it sounds like he might have come on a bit. The kid you're talking about is Virtue , on loan from Liverpool. Tries his heart out but just isn't good enough in my opinion.

[Old_pie]

Ah, it was all in my honour then. Very much appreciated, but would have been nice had someone offered me a chair.

...and yes, first win I've seen at a live match. Felt good leaving the stadium 3 points richer.

Some other honourable mentions from the match:

Our fans gave Hollis quite a bit of banter which was good fun - for the first half he was positioned along our side of the pitch.

Their player, Campbell, was quite the threat. He's fast, he's good and put in a hell of an effort. I don't know why he didn't start for them but instead was brought on as a sub. He also ran directly over to our stand to taunt us after he scored. Of course, we gave it right back after our second goal...'Campbell what's the score?' No idea on his status come end of the season, but if he's looking for a club Notts would do well to go after him.

Last, we brought a young kid with dark fluffy hair as a sub (my eye-sight is poor so I couldn't read the name). He didn't light up the pitch with extraordinary ability, but he put in a great effort. Once the game really got moving in the second half, it was players like him and Tootle that won us the game. In a ground-out game like yesterday it appeared that the game was decided less by skill and more by work-rate.

I'll try and fill some holes for you. Tahvon Campbell I think came up throught the youth ranks at Notts, spent a bit of time out on loan and contract not renewed at end of last season.

I suspect the dark fluffy hair guy was Matt Virtue-Thick, on loan from Liverpool and Hardy shed a tear on the signing as he had a lifelong ambition to sign a Liverpool player (AH is only recently a Notts fan).

There's not a lot of (silky) skill in the basement, as you say, lot of hard work, avoid too many mistakes and have a bit of luck on your side.

[navypie]

I'll try and fill some holes for you. Tahvon Campbell I think came up throught the youth ranks at Notts, spent a bit of time out on loan and contract not renewed at end of last season.

I suspect the dark fluffy hair guy was Matt Virtue-Thick, on loan from Liverpool and Hardy shed a tear on the signing as he had a lifelong ambition to sign a Liverpool player (AH is only recently a Notts fan).

There's not a lot of (silky) skill in the basement, as you say, lot of hard work, avoid too many mistakes and have a bit of luck on your side.

Campbell didn't come through our youth system , he's on loan at FGR from his parent club, West Brom . He also joined us on loan from them.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

Just got back to London from the match.

The first thing I'd like to mention is I was well impressed with our away support. I went with a mate (not a Notts fan) who lives in Reading and as we approached I offhandedly mentioned that I expected only a hundred or so Notts fans. Instead we packed the terrace along one side of the pitch. I also expected it to piss rain on us in the uncovered terrace but shortly after kick off the skies cleared and the sun came out.

And now for the football. The first half was almost all Notts, but that said, we played a hell of a lot of hoofball. While we did manage to create a few chances from the long ball, our best asset was that FG created almost nothing at all.

Our first goal was a very confusing affair. One of our players (Stead?) went down in their box and hands were all up calling for a penalty. It appeared to me as if play had stopped and players were starting to surround the ref but then suddenly the ball was in the net. Did that count? What just happened? Yes, apparently we scored.

Second half FG were hungry and we weren't matching their pace. They scored one and then almost followed it fast with another - Campbell struck it off the bar. And then we picked up the pace and it became a really good game of football with some end to end action. We almost gave it away a few times as well as took our own chances. Even though we were the stronger team in the first half, this was far more entertaining.

Our second goal was very well taken - you could feel it coming in the set up. FG tried to pressure after that and it felt a bit tense but we hung on well.

It wasn't a pretty game. A draw wouldn't have been an outlandish result, but nor was it a crime for us to take all 3. MoM for me was Tootle particularly for an excellent challenge on a FG player that saw Tootle go to ground but keep the ball and then get up and charge half way down the field with it. Most players put in a solid effort, but I will say that we were lacking in creativity.

The refereeing was terrible. As bad tackles and rough housing went unpunished the game started to get away from him as players took it as license to go further. An incident in midfield during the second half should have seen a FG player get sent off. He literally picked up one of our players off the ground and flipped him over in full view if the referee.

All in all it was a fun day out and well worth the journey. Well done Notts on getting the 3 points.

This is an excellent account and pretty much sums up my thoughts. Full credit to all the 711 Notts fans in a crowd of less than 3,000. Andy has spoken about the game so I’ll talk about about the day itself.

As this was my first visit to Forest Green Rovers like most Notts fans, a small town called Nailsworth near Stroud, Gloucestershire deep in the Cotswolds is an unlikely but interesting place to have a football league club. It kind of reminded me of the much more famous Accrington Stanley in that respect. One for the pub quizzes is that The New Lawn takes the mantel from West Brom in terms of being the highest ground.

The club itself is green in every sense. They are in the football league for the first time in their history and are one of the most eco-friendly football clubs in the world. They do seem to get mocked for this but they are paving the way for others to follow with their self sufficiently, sustainability and vision for this. Most know about their Vegan menu but they also generate their own electricity from solar and wind, have an organic pitch that does not use pesticides or fertisiler, and also harvest rainwater amongst other things. Hopefully Alan Hardy took note of some of the things that may help Notts.

In terms of the football we did a job and it was a big 3 points. We are unbeaten in three and 65 points from 37 games is a good place to be. This is a ratio of 1.76 points per game so on this basis would see us finish on 81 points. That’s another 5 or 6 wins and that could be enough for automatic promotion. What will work in our favour is if we can take points away from Mansfield, Wycombe, Coventry, and Luton at home and Accrington away. These games are massive and it’s in our hands and starts next week against Mansfield.

My question to the players is who wants to write themselves into Notts folklore by stepping up in the last nine games?

[Old_pie]

Campbell didn't come through our youth system , he's on loan at FGR from his parent club, West Brom . He also joined us on loan from them.

I stand corrected. I try to keep track and have just noted that my spreadsheet seems to have got misaligned eg I've got "Pedro's son" at the end of the Marc Bola line and Grant coming from WBA (at the same time as Cambell)

Some careless copy/pasting going on I fear.

[irish_pie]

This is an excellent account and pretty much sums up my thoughts. Full credit to all the 711 Notts fans in a crowd of less than 3,000. Andy has spoken about the game so I’ll talk about about the day itself.

As this was my first visit to Forest Green Rovers like most Notts fans, a small town called Nailsworth near Stroud, Gloucestershire deep in the Cotswolds is an unlikely but interesting place to have a football league club. It kind of reminded me of the much more famous Accrington Stanley in that respect. One for the pub quizzes is that The New Lawn takes the mantel from West Brom in terms of being the highest ground.

The club itself is green in every sense. They are in the football league for the first time in their history and are one of the most eco-friendly football clubs in the world. They do seem to get mocked for this but they are paving the way for others to follow with their self sufficiently, sustainability and vision for this. Most know about their Vegan menu but they also generate their own electricity from solar and wind, have an organic pitch that does not use pesticides or fertisiler, and also harvest rainwater amongst other things. Hopefully Alan Hardy took note of some of the things that may help Notts.

In terms of the football we did a job and it was a big 3 points. We are unbeaten in three and 65 points from 37 games is a good place to be. This is a ratio of 1.76 points per game so on this basis would see us finish on 81 points. That’s another 5 or 6 wins and that could be enough for automatic promotion. What will work in our favour is if we can take points away from Mansfield, Wycombe, Coventry, and Luton at home and Accrington away. These games are massive and it’s in our hands and starts next week against Mansfield.

My question to the players is who wants to write themselves into Notts folklore by stepping up in the last nine games?

That was an excellent read sir