Notts-Joe: February presents test of character for Notts

Hartlepool United presents Jamie Fullarton an excellent opportunity, as does the run of fixtures taking place within February. Yet, it’s tricky in a sense because we feature the Pools twice within recent weeks of each other and those games are quite hard for teams struggling to insert themselves on the field – especially when the first game is at home.

York City, Leyton Orient and Accrington Stanley are games coming up.

We also face a difficult Plymouth Argyle towards the latter part of the month. York and Accrington are games which I feel we can secure points; it is aided by the fact that Jamie has restored faith in the away performances.

So tomorrow we face the challenge which a struggling Hartlepool United presents and the conversations within our match discussion has instantly raised concerns regarding both midfields.

I don’t think they will sit back, it’s not the style of play they try to incorporate into their tactics.

Most likely, they will build with patience or result to keeping the ball in the air, so that this breaks the game up and allows them to edge closer to playing it on the ground within the final third. They will want to involve their wingers as much as possible, with so many young and eager players and a packed midfield this could make it hard for us to break them down.

Which will be a test of character for Notts to enable play to break them down.

With York City also being a side which struggle, I think this will be the game that could entice confidence from our own attacking play.

Orient are a different scenario, we know that they will look to play with confidence and aggression – whilst Accrington are just your typical League 2 team.

Plymouth being the final fixture of February, will rely on the morale and confidence picked up from the previous five games.

I think picking 10 points could happen; it’s the mid-range of what I would predict personally and much depends on our home performances’ that break up the away games.

I don’t dismiss that there will be tests, yet for us to finish as high as possible (forgetting about the play-offs for now) – we will need to acquire much of the points here, as March could be a month where we could seal further victories.

It may seem negative to think about this now, but I have thought about comments made about next season. Surely re-building in the summer will allow us to focus on challenging wisely for promotion from League 2?

C’mon You PIES!!

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