By Chris
Notts County's season continues to move in an upwards trajectory after an impressive display - albeit with a temporary blip - in a 4-2 win at Wycombe Wanderers in Saturday's League Two encounter at Adams Park.
Richard Duffy opened the scoring with a header and some comical defending led to Adam El Abd scoring an own goal to see the Magpies two goals up early on, a position retained at the break.
Wycombe, to their credit, fought back and clawed two goals back, but perseverance from Notts saw Jonathan Forte claw his side back into the lead before he laid the groundwork for Lewis Alessandra to add a killer fourth.
In this article, Pride of Nottingham looks at several aspects of the game, from the performance to whether the result was fair, and how to build on from a successful weekend.
Was the result fair?
It’s refreshing to write this - Notts fully deserved the win and, although claiming all three points was made tougher by allowing Wycombe back into the game, County fully deserved to power on and claim the win, so absolutely fair!
How did Notts play?
Notts put together a fine performance in the first half, with the pressure heavily preventing Wycombe gaining any forward momentum. The opening goal saw a surge from Notts, and for the most part the football was bright. In the second half, we saw that jagged play return and Notts looked out of the game after conceding twice. Yet things clicked after Jonathan Forte scored and Notts seemed hungry for more goals!
How did Wycombe Wanderers play?
First half they were simply outclassed, and looked certain to fall victim to a heavy defeat – yet Gareth Ainsworth managed to spark a temporary revival which saw the host take the game to the visitors. Overall they put together a heroic performance but fell short when it truly mattered.
Did our tactics work out?
Kevin Nolan introduced Jorge Grant to the starting 11, and applied tactics, which would cast doubts over the ‘route one’ claims – in the first half Notts played some very good football, showing no fear against Wycombe and working hard. A relapse briefly, mostly due to a loss of focus – would eventually see two substitutions fix anything that may not have been working. The tactics from the word go, to the in-game plans worked a treat!
How did the referee perform?
There were some dubious decisions, yet he largely allowed the football to flow throughout the game and would only fall to some very minor criticism from me.
Who do we play next?
Accrington Stanley, who are they? Don’t forget that the game is played on Friday 25th due to the Forest game.
How should we play them?
It’s hard to consider any changes after the recent results, and performances, there are very few things to suggest. Others may wish to see Adam Collin dropped for Ross Fitzsimons but this is extremely unlikely to happen. Given the opportunity to add a bit of pace upfront instead of Jon Stead is the only change I would suggest. Notts must continue the direct approach, whilst maintaining the spirit to score and of course ensuring the play stems from the floor. I would suggest that centre of the park is the ideal area for us to explore, as there should be more time to create chances there.
Wycombe fans view (courtesy of Gasroom.org):
fedup1980: There is no denying that the quality of our football is very poor regardless of the goals.
Shev: Left ourselves too much to do. Three of their four goals were horribly soft. At least we are finding the net - 7 in 3 games, but 8 conceded is not going to cut it.
bill_stickers: I'm less angry at the 4-2 than I was at 2-0. At least we played some footie second half and it was entertaining. Their third was undeserved but the fourth just shows how poor we are defensively compared to two years ago.
Shev: It did show something to get back to 2-2, but it is a shame we look so wobbly every time a ball is knocked into our box. There are going to be a lot more high scoring games, seeing as so far both teams are guaranteed two goals just for showing up.
Glenactico: Similar game to Cheltenham. Stinking start left us chasing the game, then we stuff up the comeback with some woeful defending. I'd venture that our attacking football was better than County's. Second half we were excellent and looked a real threat. Could easily have put ourselves 3-2 ahead. Defensively we look horrible. Not winning enough in the air and Brown really hasn't inspired any confidence at all.
wformation: A disappointing result today, but the second half did show that we can play football which is enjoyable to watch. Unfortunately, the OG in the first half and the third goal, following a foul close to our penalty area, undid the improvement. If the squad maintain the style we played in the second half I think the rest of the season could be very exciting and certainly enjoyable. Already we have scored 7 but conceded 8. So we can't say we are not seeing many goals. With the injured players back who knows how much better we might get. COYB's
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