Three reasons to be cheerful at Notts County

When the season’s calendar was first released, I bet that I wasn’t the only Notts fan to think that we had an easy opening two months ahead of us and an opportunity to gain a fearsome reputation by the end of September as nailed-on ‘hard to beat’ promotion candidates.

Now, just five matches into the season, I suspect that every team that hasn’t yet played us wishes that they could do before the end of this month – such have been our results!

Well all I can say to them is “Be careful what you wish for” because, from what I have seen so far, it looks to me as if we are very close to clicking as a unit and going on to fulfil our pre-season potential.

Last season, pre-November, we were winning, but winning ugly and I can remember thinking to myself that if we could win matches even though we were playing badly, sooner or later we would start hammering teams.

But, as the records will show, things went from bad to wurst as they say in Germany, but I’m sure you get my drift. When the early season loanees returned to their parent clubs, we never replaced them with players of a similar quality and the rest is history.

I remember that my immediate post-match reaction after each disappointing result became a mix of anger and bitter disappointment at the poor quality of football that we were playing. Diminishing attendance figures at Meadow Lane told their own story.

The inspired 2013-14 loan signings of saviours Callum McGregor and Jack Grealish weren’t to be repeated and we swirled down the plug-hole of despair aka relegation to League Two.

So why the optimism after our visit to Morecambe last weekend?

Normally, I am a glass half-empty sort of bloke but right now I’m watching the barmaid fill my glass to over-flowing!

And my three reasons for being cheerful are:

Number 1

The stats will show that if we had converted just one quarter of our shots against Morecambe, we would have scored 5 goals. Their first two goals were clinically executed and were scored totally against the run of play. Their conversion rate of shots to goals was the key factor in their win. I think they scored from 4 of their total of 5 shots that were on target. That is an enviable conversion rate but one which I feel sure we can emulate with the talent that we have available.

Number 2

The football we play is thrilling to watch and the number of crosses we had during the course of recent matches would have put Pontius Pilate to shame. I left the Morecambe game not feeling angry or disappointed but bemused and emotionally stunned because the lads had entertained us, had some great passages of play, had put cross after cross into the box, and should have won based on their domination of the game. But it wasn’t our day and I couldn’t quite understand just how we had managed to lose that game. However, with the passing of each successive match, it is clear that the level of understanding between players is improving. With that gelling, will come success.

Number 3

Everyone says that our Achilles heel is our defence. But our lists of suspensions and injuries have severely affected the effectiveness of our back four and defensive mid-fielders. Even with just half of the absentees back, I feel sure that Ricardo will be able to sort out this weakness, and then prove that attack is indeed the best form of defence.

The best is yet to come; of that I am sure. Just keep the faith!