By Joe Jones
Today's game between Notts County and Coventry City is bound to go down in Magpie history. Not so much for the result, a solid 1-0 win to the visitors achieved thanks to a Garry Thompson goal in the second half, but for the actions of one of the team members.
Roy Carroll played for Northern Ireland in a Euro 2016 qualifier against Romania in Bucharest, keeping the score down as his nation was defeated 2-0 and getting the Man of the Match award.
Nobody would have expected Carroll to turn out for Notts today, given that he would have had to catch a flight from Romania back to the UK and make his way to Coventry in the space of about 15 hours.
However, this is just what he did - according to BBC Radio Nottingham's Colin Slater, Carroll caught a flight from the Romanian capital to London Heathrow airport at 7am local time (Romania's two hours ahead).
The veteran stopper is then said to have collected his car and driven up the motorway to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, before reporting to Magpies manager Shaun Derry and declaring that he was fit to play.
The Sky Blues surely would have been shocked at the team announcement, which shows commitment and determination of the absolute highest level - not to mention the boost it would have handed Notts and the travelling fans.
That said, the first effort of the game fell to the home side, Adam Barton slicing a low shot wide in the second minute.
The game proved scrappy in the opening stages, but come the quarter-hour mark, the action started coming, with Haydn Hollis forcing a good block and Stephen McLaughlin seeing his deflected shot saved.
The best chance of the first half fell to Notts when Mike Edwards’s header was cleared off the line by Aaron Phillips in the 29th minute.
Carroll was feared injured when Phillips clattered into him towards the end of the half, the stopper struggling to walk off the field after the whistle went, but he was good to go into the second half.
The Northern Ireland man had to be alert to punch away a James O'Brien corner, while moments later, Jack Finch blasted a long-range effort that flew just over.
Coventry seemed to grow into the game and continued to threaten, but the deadlock was to be broken by the visitors, Thompson racing through on goal in the 72nd minute before chipping a ball over goalkeeper Ryan Allsop and into the net.
With two minutes left of the game, the Sky Blues felt they should have had a penalty when Hollis looked to have fouled Gary Madine, but referee Michael Bull waved away the appeals.
Ultimately, the final whistle blew to confirm an excellent away victory - buoyed by the Notts performance and Carroll's titanic effort to get back in time to play for his club - which sees the Magpies climb to fourth in the table.
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