Match Report: Alassana Jatta’s Early Goal Not Enough as Doncaster Equalise

I listened on the radio, it sounded like a great game and a fantastic advert for league two football, two good teams slugging it out. A point is a good result from Doncaster and it sounded like a fair result.

good point, i dont think doncaster deserved a point and in truth a stronger bench i think we would have won it. thought we did very well in spells and maybe should have tried less to push for a second. we got punished for it and although they did well, they really did not trouble us enough.

This was a match of two halves today. Notts were brilliant in the first half, especially in the first twenty five minutes. 

Some of the best football that Notts have played under Stuart Maynard. The side that Stuart has put together is playing as one all over the field.

The move that lead to Jatta heading his tenth goal of the season was pure class at this level, & will rightly be a contender for Notts goal of the season.

Doncaster, came back into it in the 2nd half and Notts had some serious defending to do, but apart from conceding the one goal, Notts looked solid enough & were well worth a point in the end.

Stuart is rightly satisfied with a point & another difficult match has been ticked off with Notts remaining unbeaten away.

Another tough match follows next week at Crewe, but I'm confident that Notts will give a good account of themselves there too.

We are getting closer to the new year, when hopefully, Edwards, Jones & Grant will return to strengthen the squad.

Good result, I feel. I think Notts needed a second goal to see it out, and I think we tried to do that. Some fans kept calling for changes, but why risk Dan Crowley and still draw? There were not a lot of options to change things, and I think if David McGoldrick had been fit enough for selection, this game would have been something where he would have made a huge difference. The 70th minute mark was crying out for someone like him in the team, although I thought Jevani Brown did well. Unfortunately, I have no idea how he got a yellow for controlling the ball when a foul had been made on him.

We currently have a fair amount of injuries, so I think a draw isn't all that bad. We could have won the game, but going defensive could have seen us concede more than one goal. Notts played well in spells. I am not exactly sure how Doncaster avoided a single yellow card, but the referee did seem to favour them. Doncaster played okay, but not enough from them, and their fans made very little noise.

The game should have ended in our favour. Without Alex Bass, this might not have been the case, and I think defensively we hung on at times. I thought Doncaster looked far more organised this time around, but they didn't really play all that well. Notts did in spells, but failed to see out the game after a very good first half. Alassana Jatta's strike was brilliant. It's a shame we didn't create more chances, but we played well, just lacked at the crucial end, but it wasn't due to effort.

A point dropped, but also a point saved. I don't understand why some fans focus solely on the negatives. We have several key injuries, and the only real option we had on the bench was Josh Martin. I wouldn't have put Dan Crowley on, considering how Doncaster were approaching the game, as it could have caused further complications for him. The game was pretty even by the end, despite Doncaster looking like a team we could have beaten.

There is a lot of criticism towards Stuart Maynard by his fan club, which I don't get. We have several injuries and the players gave their all in the game. We could have scored a second goal if things had worked out, and the opening goal was a thing of beauty. Jatta guided an excellent cross beyond the Doncaster keeper's reach. It was a brilliant goal. We should be taking the positives and encouraging the players. It was a good point on the road, and we are still undefeated away from home.

I thought Notts played very well in the first half. Doncaster had their moments, but we controlled the game overall. 

When they made changes, things got better for them, and at times, Notts had to adapt. However, in the end, a draw is a fair result.

It was a good performance. In hindsight, I might have started with some of the players on the bench and used the saved legs to freshen things up. However, I understand that Stuart Maynard wanted to start with what he felt was the strongest squad. We had the chances to seal the points.

It was a good football match between two decent teams. Doncaster played well, but at times they looked like a team we could have easily beaten if we had a full squad available. They made changes and fielded what seems to be their strongest team, but I didn’t see much to suggest they are better than us. It’s all about collecting points, and for both teams, this is a good result. We need to aim for all three points against Crewe, keep up the pressure, and make sure we stay firmly in the automatic promotion race.