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ARLukomski
Notts County have fallen to a second League Two home defeat in a row after Crawley Town won 2-1 at Meadow Lane on Tuesday night.
Jimmy Smith scored in the 25th minute to give the Red Devils the lead but Jon Stead levelled from the penalty spot 13 minutes in the second half.
It looked as though the Magpies would claim a point but late drama saw Matty Virtue sent off before Ross Fitzsimons also saw red - and conceded a penalty - for kicking out at an opposition player.
Josh Payne went on to convert his stoppage-time spot kick for their first ever win at Meadow Lane.
Notts vlogger and Pride of Nottingham contributor ARLukomski discussed the fixture ahead of kickoff, gave his thoughts as the game went on, and talked about the performance and result after the final whistle.
Follow ARLukomski on his YouTube channel by clicking here.
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Joe Jones
Kevin Nolan has criticised referee Scott Oldham for his officiating in Notts County's 2-1 defeat to Crawley Town, insisting "he simply wasn't good enough".
Tuesday's rescheduled League Two game proved another forgettable evening for the Magpies as they ended the game pointless and down to nine men.
Matty Virtue was sent off for a second yellow card before Ross Fitzsimons lashed out at a Crawley player for a red card and a penalty which was converted by Harry Kewell's side.
“I was angry for all the wrong reasons,” Nolan told the Nottingham Post after the game.
“I was very disappointed to lose the game and when you look back, it’s the little decisions that referees get wrong are costing us at the minute.
“One of those was Matty Virtue’s yellow card. It’s not a yellow – everybody can see it.
“The lad has won the ball cleanly. Then for the second red, it’s a goal kick and not a corner.
“But listen I am not going to try to look after Ross Fitzsimons in this because we all take accountability for our own actions.
“It has cost us a point, but if it’s a goal kick then it doesn’t happen.
“But I’ve said to the lads that to suffer back to back defeats for the first time this season shows how far we have come.
“I am delighted with that. I don’t want to keep harping on about referees but he simply wasn’t good enough to referee this game.”
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Joe Jones
Notts County have suffered a second League Two home defeat in the space of three days as Crawley Town emerged 2-1 winners at Meadow Lane on Tuesday night.
The Magpies' unbeaten league home run came to an end at the weekend as Exeter City won 2-1 and the Red Devils won by the same scoreline in a game which ended in rambunctious circumstances.
Kevin Nolan's side began brightly, forcing five corners in the first ten minutes, and nearly took the lead when Matty Virtue's shot was hacked off the line by Josh Lelan.
Lewis Alessandra then came just as close when Liam Noble's header came off an opposition defender and fell to the winger but his shot on the turn clipped the top of the bar on its way over.
The pendulum soon swung the other way, however, and Crawley enjoyed a bright spell before taking the lead on 25 minutes.
Lelan’s throw on the right was flicked on by Thomas Verheydt towards Jimmy Smith, who made the most of the space at his disposal to volley beyond Ross Fitzsimons and inside the right-hand post.
The first half ended with Notts on the back foot, save for Virtue heading a yard wide in stoppage time from Dan Jones’s cross.
The restart saw the hosts push forward in a bid to chase an equaliser and enjoyed several good chances as Grant volleyed wide of the post before Stead curled wide of the upright.
Eventually the equaliser came when Lelan was adjudged to have handled inside the area for a Notts penalty, which Stead dispatched low to the keeper's right.
Unfortunately, County's hopes of hanging on to a point were dashed in stoppage time when Virtue was shown a second yellow card before Fitzsimons, looking to send a claimed corner upfield, was blocked by Mark Connolly.
The Notts keeper lashed out and kicked the Crawley man, prompting the ref to not only send him off, but to award the visitors a penalty, which Josh Payne slotted home.
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Chris
Notts County have the opportunity to put their 2-1 defeat to Exeter City behind them with tonight's League Two home game against Crawley Town.
How have the Red Devils been doing in the league? Who are their key players? And how are they expected to play?
Pride of Nottingham's Chris takes a look in our latest Scouting Report.
Head to head
Notts County have played Crawley Town 11 times in their history.
The first fixture between the two was on 10 November 2012 at Meadow Lane, a League One meeting which finished 1-1.
Meanwhile the return fixture, played away on 9 March 2013, ended as a goalless draw.
The record stands at seven Notts wins, two Crawley wins, and two draws - all games took place either in League One or League Two.
Notts have won their last five games in a row agains Crawley, and seven of the last eight.
Run-down of their last six features
Saturday 23rd December – Accrington Stanley 2 Crawley Town 3
Tuesday 26th December – Crawley Town 0 Colchester United 2
Saturday 30th December – Crawley Town 1 Stevenage 0
Monday 1st January – Yeovil Town 1 Crawley 2
Saturday 13th January – Crawley Town 2 Barnet 0
Friday 19th January – Newport County 2 Crawley Town 1
The Players – Fact Sheet
Highest Goal Scorers: Jordan Roberts 7, Enzio Boldewijn 6, Jimmy Smith 5 and Ibrahim Meite 3.
Persistent Foulers: Jordan Roberts 7 yellow cards and 1 red card, Josh Yorwerth 5 yellow cards and 1 red card, Mark Randall 6 yellow cards and Jimmy Smith 3 yellow card and 1 card.
The Key Players
In midfield, Lewis Young is a versatile player who offers a lot of pace – the younger brother of Manchester United star Ashley Young will be a player which will be required to be marked tightly by the magpies defence.
Also, Jordan Roberts is a tall posing player who has added goals to his tally this season. The creative spark within Crawley’s midfield – he has the ability to switch from an out-wide area to convert nicely within the centre park.
Enzio Boldewijn is a threat up top and, on his day can really cause havoc in the oppositions defence.
Style of Play, Strengths, and Weaknesses
Crawley Town are a physical but slow building team that focuses on creating chances from out wide, and hitting the opposition when space opens up.
They tend to sit back in an effort to absorb the pressure, this allows them to get a good feel for the game, and ultimately understand their counterparts better.
Due to this, the Red Devils can largely but put on the back foot from good play and as a direct result it puts them in danger – defensively they roll the dice a fair bit and rely on luck to survive conceding.
On the ball, they like ot press deep and use aerial balls as a way to cause havoc – where pace can exploit their opposition they do show no signs of fearing taking a team on, and if losing being a goal or two down doesn’t deter them either.
They’re a decent League Two team, who have the foundations to cause any side within this league problems.
However, due to their style of play and inconsistent performances – they do make it an uphill task for themselves not only to remain in competition for any points but also when creating their own chances on goal.
It’s clear that Notts will have to think more about how to hold the ball, whilst protecting their creative players.
Frustration will also be something that Notts will have to keep in check, so it’s important that little niggles don’t become a larger concern as the game progresses – as both sides will be naturally guilty of making silly mistakes.
I would like to see Notts use the flanks, as a way to gain ground but also switch to the centre of the park using timed overlaps as a way to directly cut in behind the opposition.
More chances should naturally fall for both teams, however if Notts focus more on the ground and use their feet well – this will unlock the Crawley Town defence in my opinion.
Set pieces and free kicks from an heading position may be an area whereby Notts could exploit.
However, they shouldn’t be scared to have a shot from distance.
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Joe Jones
Kevin Nolan has claimed that managers should be given power to use video assisted refereeing (VAR) to challenge major decisions.
At present, either the referee or the video assistant can make use of the system when there is a "clear and obvious error" involving goals, penalty awards, red cards, or mistaken identity.
Nolan, meanwhile, is proposing a system similar to tennis or cricket, and thinks both managers should be allowed one unsuccessful challenge per match.
"You won't have as many stops, possibly only two. Once you've got it wrong, as a manager you have to say 'right, keep schtum and trust the referee', the Notts County boss told BBC Sport.
"Give managers a flag to say we want something reviewing. That stops the game right away.
"What it [the review] will do is tell the referee that he got something that he's seen spot on and that will give him a confidence boost, or they will go 'fair enough you have seen something different, so let's have a look at it'.
"What VAR does is give us the opportunity to go to the screen if we need to.
"Say I think it is a penalty and the referee hasn't given it, I can put the flag up and say I want to look at the penalty.
Then if we go to the VAR and give the penalty, I keep my flag. If it's not, I lose it and then we have the discussion afterwards. That is the best way."
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Joe Jones
Kevin Nolan has claimed that no team has deserved to beat Notts County at home in the league since Portsmouth last April.
The South Coast side won at Meadow Lane at the tail end of last season to secure promotion and, since then, the Magpies had remained unbeaten on their own turf in League Two.
However, Exeter City have now ended County's superb unbeaten league home record, winning 2-1 on Saturday.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday night's meeting with Crawley Town, Nolan says his side will look to bounce back, and couldn't help but feel bemused about losing the record.
“We are just looking for a reaction,” Nolan told the Nottingham Post.
“When we lost to Swindon, we followed that up with a really good performance against Port Vale just a couple of days later.
“For me, it does not matter we lost at home. It was a fantastic record that we held and hats off to the lads because we had some really good teams come here this year.
“Exeter were the team who ended the run, but I don’t think they deserved to win. In fact, I don’t think anybody has deserved to since we played Portsmouth last April.
“But I felt we did more than enough to get something out of the game at the weekend, and the only thing I didn’t think we didn’t do, is work the keeper enough. That’s what we have been working on over the last 48 hours or so.”
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Joe Jones
Head to head
Notts County have played Crawley Town 11 times in their history.
The first fixture between the two was on 10 November 2012 at Meadow Lane, a League One meeting which finished 1-1.
Meanwhile the return fixture, played away on 9 March 2013, ended as a goalless draw.
The record stands at seven Notts wins, two Crawley wins, and two draws - all games took place either in League One or League Two.
Notts have won their last five games in a row agains Crawley, and seven of the last eight.
Stats
Notts have only won two of their last eight games, drawing four and losing two.
Despite still sitting second in League Two, the chasing pack are now just a few points behind.
Accrington Stanley and Exeter City now have the possibility to leapfrog the Magpies with their game in hand.
Crawley, meanwhile, have won six of their last 10, allaying their early-season relegation fears.
Harry Kewell's side went into last weekend's game on the back of a three-match winning run but lost 2-1 at Newport County on Friday night.
History
Crawley Town have been a non-league side for the majority of their history.
In the 2010s, when Notts were struggling to survive in the old Second Division, Crawley had just been promoted from the Southern Football League.
Crawley have won plenty of silverware in their history, though the majority of it is amateur-based.
This changed when they won the Conference National title in 2011 and the League Two title just a year later.
2010-11 was a record-breaking season not just for Crawley, but also for the Conference.
The West Sussex club broke the points total in one season (105) and tie with other teams for most wins in one season (31), fewest defeats (3), and highest goal difference (+63).
Because of this season, alongside the funds they had to buy players and an unlikeable manager (Steve Evans), they were known as “the Manchester United of non-league football”.
The town of Crawley is known for being close - just three miles in fact - to Gatwick Airport, the world's busiest single-runway international airport.
Famous people who have links to Crawley include Australian footballer Kevin Muscat (born in Crawley), Gareth Southgate (attended the town's Hazelwick School), English rock band The Cure (formed in Crawley, several of its members attended St Wilfrid's RC School) and Gorillaz lead singer 2D (a fictional character, his back story claims he grew up in the town).
Team news
Shaun Brisley was taken off against Exeter City and Kevin Nolan says the defender has a haematoma and will not be risked against Crawley.
Richard Duffy was back in training on Monday, while Matt Tootle sat it out, but both players could potentially play a role in Tuesday night's game.
Crawley team news to follow.
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Joe Jones
Kevin Nolan has confirmed that Shaun Brisley will not be risked in Notts County's midweek League Two game with Crawley Town.
The 27-year-old, one of the club's most consistent performers this season, was forced off late on in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Exeter City due to a dead leg.
Although Richard Duffy is back in training after missing the weekend game at Meadow Lane, the Magpies boss admits that the team "cannot afford" to be without Brisley for more than two games.
“I am disappointed because he has a knock on his leg and he has a bit of a haematoma,” Nolan told the Nottingham Post.
“He feels good within himself, and Tuesday may come a bit too soon for him. We won’t risk him anyway because he’s got to be 100 per cent if he plays.
“If he misses one or two games then that’s fair enough, but we cannot afford it to be any longer. We are just giving him as much time as we possibly can.”
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Joe Jones
Alan Judge has admitted that he will seek a loan move away from Brentford this month if he's not involved in Saturday's Championship game against Norwich City.
The former Notts County winger had been out of action for nearly two years with a compound leg fracture but made his first-team comeback in the FA Cup third-round defeat against his former club.
However, Judge did not feature in the Bees squad for the subsequent two games against Bolton and Reading, and speaking to the Sunday Times, he expressed his frustrations at being overlooked.
“This is probably the hardest part,” Judge said in an interview reprinted by Get West London. “It’s massively frustrating. You are just there waiting, but the team is doing well, I totally understand that.
“I feel I am good enough to be involved, and I think I have shown that. I need minutes and the only way I can get them is by the manager putting me on the pitch. You don’t want to be told to be patient anymore.
“I’m not one to make a fuss, but if by the end of January I am not playing I will need to go on loan. Hopefully people will remember what I did two years ago and think ‘he’s worth taking a punt on’.”
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Joe Jones
Liam Noble has stressed that Notts County need a reaction in Tuesday night's fixture against Crawley Town following their weekend loss to Exeter City.
The Magpies' proud unbeaten league home record, which stood since April 2017, came to an end on Saturday as goals from Jake Taylor and Jayden Stockley gave the visitors a 2-1 win.
Notts are in action again in midweek, the fixture having been rescheduled due to their FA Cup progress, and Noble says it works out well to have the chance to bounce back straight away.
“We were disappointed to lose the home record the way we did and it would have been a long week if we didn't have this game,” Noble told the official Notts website.
“We need a reaction from everyone and I'm sure we will get it. There are 18 games left and there will be a lot of twists and turns to go along the way.
“You're always going to get two or three weeks where you look at the scores after a defeat and everyone around you has won but there's no point looking at it or worrying until there are a few games left because it will keep changing.
“Teams will continue to take points off one another and plenty of them still have to play each other too. We just need to keep going because we have the squad to bounce back.”
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Joe Jones
Kevin Nolan has described Notts County as "a team in transition" and praised each of the home debutants in Saturday's League Two encounter with Exeter City.
The returning Liam Noble was drafted into the starting XI, as were youngsters Matty Virtue and Noor Husin, in a side which had to be rejigged due to the absence of Richard Duffy and Matt Tootle.
Nolan says he was happy with how the new players performed, and felt towards the end of the match that the Magpies played some of the best football during his reign so far, despite the 2-1 defeat.
"This is a team in transition with different types of players coming in who are finding their feet in the team," Nolan told the Nottingham Post.
"We gave three home debuts today and I thought they all did terrifically well. I'm delighted with that and it's another positive for us.
"We played some wonderful stuff, some of the best under my tenure, but we didn't have the cutting edge at the end."
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Joe Jones
Notts County's superb unbeaten league home run has come to an end as Exeter City ran out 2-1 winners in Saturday's encounter at Meadow Lane.
The high-flying Grecians, who are in the promotion mix, took the lead after just seven minutes through Jake Taylor.
Jayden Stockley then doubled the visitors' lead just before half time as the Magpies struggled to click with several new players in the XI and in the absence of Matt Tootle and Richard Duffy.
Jon Stead pulled a goal back for the hosts with a second-half penalty, won after Shola Ameobi was hauled down in the box, but sadly Notts could not go on to find an equaliser.
Pride of Nottingham was at the game and interviewed a number of County fans prior to kickoff.
Questions asked include how Alan Hardy and Kevin Nolan have done in their first 12 months, whether Matty Virtue will be a good replacement for Ryan Yates and whether they are happy with the transfer business conducted so far.
Check out what the Black and White Army had to say in our latest episode of Meet the Fans!
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Joe Jones
Notts County lost their unbeaten home league record as Exeter City secured a 2-1 victory at Meadow Lane.
First-half goals from Jake Taylor and Jayden Stockley gave the promotion-chasing Grecians a two-goal advantage.
Although Jon Stead scored a penalty, the Magpies could not go on to find an equaliser
The result means that Notts have tasted their first defeat in the league in front of their own fans since Portsmouth won last April.
What was the reaction from the Notts boss, players and fans following the draw? Here is a collection of the best post-match reaction.
Kevin Nolan
“It was a disappointing afternoon and it always is when you lose a game. But I thought the lads’ reaction in the second half was absolutely fantastic.
“I thought we totally outplayed Exeter, and while we created lots of opportunities, the ball just didn’t seem to fall for us or we didn’t work the keeper well enough.
“I just thought the response was better all round because in the first half we showed them a little bit too much respect.
“But I did feel that the free-kick which led to the first goal shouldn’t have been given and when a team scores off the back of it shows how big those decisions are.
“I discussed that at the end with the referee because little decisions are just as important.
“It was the same for their second goal. Their lad can’t win the ball without going through Jorge Grant.
“There is a ref and a lineman there and I am bewildered as to why the free-kick wasn’t given.
“But these are the decisions they have to get right even though I thought the referee had a decent game.”
Liam Noble
“I was disappointed to not get something out of the game, but going 2-0 down in the first half wasn’t good enough.
“We showed a good reaction in the second half but we can’t put ourselves in that position.
“We just fell short and we didn’t pick up enough second balls.
“But it was nice to be back out there and it would have been better had we got the result we had wanted.”
Jorge Grant
 
The Black and White Army - PON Forum
Chris:
I have to say, I fell Notts performed very poorly yesterday.
The first half wasn't very good at all, we committed players to far up the field and nobody bar Dan Jones had the pace to track back. Stead shouldn't have been playing on his own up front, though why does he insist on dropping to his knees as soon as he gets the ball? Yes, sometimes there was force and pushing but he never draws the foul to a convincing point for me.
Our midfield seemed very capable but sluggish to drive forward anything remotely creative.
Second half I felt Notts played some great stuff, yet we never looked likely to score and we just have this habit of trying to force the play - we need an Alan Judge type player that isn't afraid to shoot from distance. Go on Kevin, get Noble and some of the others to practice this - even Grant seemed woeful!
The referee didn't help but we should play beyond this, we just seemed to allow his poor handling to be bigger than it should.
Exeter I felt was very poor also, they used school boy diversion tactics and frequently cheated. I noticed several incidents which went unpunished, from a two footed challenge to one of their players hitting out at Virtue (for no reason).
At the end of the day we was poor and, I struggle to suggest we deserved anything from it.
United Pie:
With that loss yesterday my nerves are starting to rattle exester are starting to have a late serge. That loss now puts us in danger of the casing pack closing in on us Accrington are a game in a hand and can now go second with a win we need to hold our nerve and play like we have been doing. Cause loosing games like yesterday day dose not get you promoted.
Liampie:
fans near me kept going on about us missing yates but i think even he would have struggled yesterday.
we started poorly and it became a game of chasing them after the early goal for exeter. i think the better team won tbh, we did not create enough clear chances and for that reason i am disappointed. i think they scored from their first two shots on target! standards are slipping nolan.
ARLukomski:
I feel like we are gonna bottle this if we keep going the way we are. Nolan got it completely wrong yesterday. If it ain’t broken, don’t try and fix it. No idea why we went with 4-2-3-1 when it’s untried, untested and unproven with this team. Why change a formation that’s been working all season. Hunt plays everyone on for the first goal. Second one is a woeful pass by Virtue. Husin was bought off when he was doing well. Noble and Walker looked quality in the centre of midfield yesterday.  Hewitt is not a centre back, we desperately need to sign some cover. Early in the second half, four good balls were put into the box with nobody’s on the end of them, showing again why we so badly need a striker. Alessandra missed a sitter at the back post. Ameobi won the penalty then afterwards didn’t look bothered. The problem is yesterday’s selection was caused by injuries and again we have no strength in depth. Luton can have injuries and replace them players with players who are just as good. Tootle is ill and we replace him with a grandfather clock.
The Black and White Army - Social media
Peter Walker: Still In a better place than last January! Either we play Jonathan Forte or we get a striker in not another midfield player
Steve Brewer: Didn't play bad. Ref had a hand in both of their goals although it was bad defending and the goalie should have stoppe d
Stuart Anderson: 1st half was awful, why the hell we started 1 up top beggers belief!! 2nd started ok but we dominated when we bought a 2nd striker on! We need a pacey striker who knows where the net Is!! I thought Noble was very good today.
Adrian Wheatley: If today dont make them look for defenders then nothing will nothing on the bench for central defence and let the only option leave for free?
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Joe Jones
Notts County's superb unbeaten league home run has come to an end as Exeter City ran out 2-1 winners in Saturday's encounter at Meadow Lane.
The high-flying Grecians, who are in the promotion mix, took the lead after just seven minutes through Jake Taylor.
Jayden Stockley then doubled the visitors' lead just before half time as the disjointed Magpies struggled to cope against their opponents.
Jon Stead pulled a goal back for Notts with a second-half penalty, won after Shola Ameobi was hauled down in the box, but sadly the hosts could not go on to find an equaliser.
Should you wish to see them, here are the official Notts YouTube highlights from the game.
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Chris
Notts County's superb unbeaten league home run has come to an end as Exeter City ran out 2-1 winners in Saturday's encounter at Meadow Lane.
The high-flying Grecians, who are in the promotion mix, took the lead after just seven minutes through Jake Taylor.
Jayden Stockley then doubled the visitors' lead just before half time as the Magpies struggled to click with several new players in the XI and in the absence of Matt Tootle and Richard Duffy.
Jon Stead pulled a goal back for the hosts with a second-half penalty, won after Shola Ameobi was hauled down in the box, but sadly Notts could not go on to find an equaliser.
How did the game pan out? Pride of Nottingham's Chris takes a look with this weekend's Tactical Talk.
Was the result fair?
It’s very hard to say it the result was fair or not, I feel a draw may have been deserved but ultimately I do acknowledge that Notts were poor yesterday – likewise I feel Exeter equally unimpressed but we massively lack any real quality on goal.
How did Notts play?
For me we seemed too focused on attacking, rather than retaining the ball – we frequently gave it away very cheaply and the whole way we played made it very difficult to match the speed/creativity which Exeter did process.
In the second half things did change, we held the ball and knocked it around – yet we never drawn Exeter’s player out or made space available. We tended to waste chances by trying to force the play, and only until Shola Ameobi came on did we look like a team able to get through the oppositions defence – simply we played a game of two halves. 
How did Exeter play?
They played okay, at times quite exciting but for some reason they always insisted on doing something which wasn’t really required. I considered them to be a very good team coming into the game, yet I feel their schoolboy tactics and efforts to cheat really became unimpressive. When they focused on playing ‘football’ they looked a useful side but I think they’d have struggled to score if Notts had performed better and had noticed what they were doing.
Did our tactics work out?
Not very well in the first half. In midfield, we had too many new faces, this really meant that Notts had to have a little more creativity on the ball and we never really saw this until the second half. We focused on attacking more than we did retaining the ball or even defending – it was clear a few minutes in that Exeter would push us due to how far we seemed to be playing up the pitch. Second half Notts played better, yet at no point was it really enough – it highlighted exactly why we need a striker and a defender as outlined in my January transfer window article (please link)
How did the referee perform?
I felt he was poor, yet his decisions seemed more ‘blinded’ than negligent – I do feel he favoured Exeter, who’s players seemed to get away with everything but really he’s the standard of your typical League Two referee and I feel Notts should be smarter to this.
Who do we play next?
Crawley Town – another test in terms of the physical side of the game. They won’t be pushed off the ball or bullied and they will pressure us for the ball. We need to be stronger and more creative, as I feel these are points to be claimed.
How should we play them?
Notts need to be focused defensively, we can’t play too far up the field and if Nicky Hunt starts – he needs to be told to only go forward when we can afford his absence.
In midfield I think we need to be calmer, more patient with our build-up play and attempt to draw the opposition out – as against Exeter we seemed to pack the centre of the park and this really limited the space that we could have exploited.
With Crawley being your typical ‘physical’ League Two team, we need to be mindful about giving them any sort of space on the pitch.
Whilst we lack pace at the back, wise positional play would give the magpies advantage and I think any attacks should be phased and risk assessed for being caught out.
I’d like to see us use Jorge Grant and Liam Noble as a way to draw the opposition out, these played apart from each other would give us a means to break the Red Devils down and to allow some ‘creativity’ to get started.
Really, Notts should look to thrive under possession-based football and look to be more dynamic with awareness going forward.
Pressure the opposition defence, use link-up play to support the attacks and just pass the ball into space whereby this may release someone goal side – it’s not exactly difficult but if we give Crawley an inch they will take a mile.
Exeter fan views (from Exeweb)
Billy the Fish: The first half we took the game to them and was as complete a performance from City as I have seen in a long while. The second half County came out entirely differently and looked like promotion candidates, dangerous in attack but strangely vulnerable to our counter attacks. Lee Holmes looked out of sorts and Jordan Tillson is obviously just filling a position until the big boys are back. He works hard and gets his challenges in but today he was like a rabbit in the headlights whenever he found himself with the ball at his feet. All the others impressed, TAH rode his luck at times but otherwise every one them can be proud of themselves. I couldn't see the incident which saw Troy penalised and booked for the penalty but it came from a free kick awarded in front of us and the linesman and for which there was no discernable infringement. One of many strange refereeing decisions which infuriated both sets of fans. Great three points and a great day out.
Red Bill: Just watched the goals, what a great goal the second was. Fantastic ball from Harley and a great finish from Stockley. I feel making the most of Harley, who i hope has done a lot to silence his critics with some terrific peformances lately, could be key to a serious promotion push.
Andrew P Long: We went too defensive after going two up. Instead of trying to prevent them scoring we should've gone for their throat. If we had done that we'd have won more easily and comprehensively, say 1-4, and RHK was cheated out of more than a grand etc.
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