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Notts County's exceptional season doesn't guarantee play-off success, warns manager Luke Williams


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Notts County came close to securing automatic promotion to Wrexham, even though they amassed over 100 points. According to Manager Luke Williams, Notts County’s exceptional season does not necessarily make them the top pick for promotion in the National League play-offs.

Notts will compete against Boreham Wood in the semi-final on Sunday, with the winner advancing to the Wembley final six days later.

Notts ended the season 35 points ahead of Boreham Wood in the standings and set a new record of 107 points for a team that finished second in the league.

Luke Williams spoke to BBC Radio Nottingham, he said: "I don't know who makes us favourites?

"It's a different competition, so I'm not sure how we are equated as favourites - that one is strange.

"If you just say the teams that are higher in the league are more favoured to win then I suppose that is a simple way to make that assessment."

In any previous season, Notts’ points tally would have secured their automatic promotion back to the English Football League. However, Wrexham’s division-record 111 points earned them the title and promotion.

The difference between Notts in second place and Boreham Wood in sixth was greater than the gap between Sunday’s rivals and the relegation zone.

Despite this, Williams asserts that the events of the previous 46 games - including the club-record 32 league wins and 117 league goals - will have little impact now that the competition has become a knockout format.

"The mentality around this tournament now and the one that just finished are very different," Williams added.

"We have to be ready to win the game in front of us and not look at what we have done in the past."

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part of his plans to keep the team and fans in balance ahead of the game, we just need to approach it in a manner where we concentrate on our own performance and creating goal scoring chances.

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We have been the favourites for promotion all season, and finishing second with a record number of points doesn’t change that. Luke Williams has done a great job of playing things down and keeping the pressure off the players. His mind games are a clever part of his management skills, but we all know that we are expected to go up no matter where we finished in the league. That’s the reality of our situation and we can’t change that. What we can do is focus on our preparation for Sunday and make sure we are ready for the biggest game of our lives. Williams will be making sure the players are working hard on their tactics and fitness, while also keeping them calm and confident. It’s not easy to balance those things, but that’s what makes him a good manager.

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Luke Williams is known for his unique managerial style where he likes to play games with the media and downplay things. Despite this, he has not done much wrong so far. Even though we are the favorites, he knows that we have to earn our place at Wembley and beyond that. He understands that nothing is given and everything must be earned.

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As a passionate Notts County fan, I urge our manager Luke Williams to do everything in his power to bring our club back into the Football League. We believe in you and trust that you will go above and beyond to make this dream come true. We’re counting on you!

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Pride of Nottingham is an independent fansite devoted to Notts County, the world’s oldest professional football club. Created in 2013, it has served as a source of Magpie news, features, match previews, reports, analysis and interviews for more than three years.

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