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Notts County 1 - 5 Walsall

By Joe Jones

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Well, here we go again. So much for progress. After a brave but ultimately fruitless effort in midweek against Peterborough United, today was a case of reverting back to the hapless, embarrassing displays of the first half of the season, as Notts capitulated 5-1 to Walsall in front of a home crowd.

The Magpies were boosted by the return of Callum McGregor, who had been so effective in 2013 for the boys in black and white. He lined up just behind striker Enoch Showunmi in place of the suspended Ronan Murray, with wingers Jack Grealish and Jamal Campbell-Ryce either side.

The first ten minutes were quite even, Walsall's Sam Mantom getting a shot in after two minutes, but McGregor replying with a great attempt not long after.

This impasse would be broken in the 24th minute, as former Notts player Craig Westcarr spotted Febian Brandy’s forward run with an incisive through-pass. Brandy, another former Magpie, simply rounded Bartosz Bialkowski with his first touch and placed the ball into an empty net.

Less than 10 minutes later, Brandy scored his second, after Notts were caught out following on from a corner. Milan Lalkovic beat Kieron Freeman and lashed a ball through to the Saddlers striker, who fired a shot into the top-left corner.

On the stroke of half-time, Brandy proceeded to seal his hat-trick, as another great Westcarr cross-chip fell to his teammate, who duly finished with his head. 3-0 at half time.

Things didn't get better after the restart, as a free kick taken by Sam Mantom fell to the unmarked Andy Butler, who had an easy header into Notts net.

Not even an hour on the clock and Walsall were 5-0 up, as Westcarr, ever the tormentor, grabbed a goal for himself against his former club, a simple route one strike following a long punt from the Walsall keeper.

The only positive from Notts was a stunning free kick from McGregor just after the hour, a scant consolation after having been thoroughly eviscerated.

Walsall have scored five or more goals away from home today for the first time since 1997 – a 7-0 FA Cup win at Macclesfield.

Meanwhile, Notts have conceded nine goals in two games and currently sit in 18th.

Don't let that fool you - we're only a point clear of the relegation zone, and have played the most games in the division (29). Four of the six sides below us have THREE games in hand.

Today's storms over Meadow Lane look set to stay for a lot longer.

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    super_ram

    Global Moderators

    Can things get worse?The question should be can things get better?Well,if Notts are to survive in Div 1 they have to get better-much better.If SD's post match interview is anything to go by they will.I will be very interested to see what happens this week transfer/loanwise and also what reaction there is from the players next week.


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    GrannyPie

    Members

    Back to the dark days!


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    Fan of Big Tone

    Global Moderators

    This doesn't make pleasant reading, it seems we are back to square one, I felt that Walsall could easily have got into double figures and I said it at the time and I'll say it again, why did we let Westcarr go? He was at his brilliant best against us.


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    anonypie

    Members

    These games in hand are worrying me.  We could easily be back at the bottom of the table 6 or 7 points from safety if the worst happens and other relegation threatened teams win these games.


     


    However, there is absolutely nothing we can do about that.  We have to get our own performances up and some more points on the board.  If we win more than we lose and pick up a few draws from teams we would expect to lose to, then hopefully things will be ok.


     


    We'll just have to hope that Saturdays performance was a one off.  I'm pretty sure it was.  Maybe a bit of fatigue from Tuesday (remember they don't seem to have had a pre season where they got their fitness levels up, and so Derry is playing catch up with them) and too many having an off day at once.  Shaun and Greg simply won't take that sort of display.  I hope we can offload Haynes and get a decent combative midfielder in.  We sure need one.


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    sadlad

    Members

    Well that was an amazing Walsall performance. I thought Saddlers may have come away with a single goal victory but never expected that. Westcarr and Brandy grabbed the headlines but the whole team did well. Thought your keeper played a blinder with several blocks and saves to keep the score down. I expected a close game tbh. Maybe Walsall played the conditions a bit better too. So a setback for Notts but perhaps a game to forget....

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    Chris

    Administrators

    Taking nothing from Walsall, we made them. Our lack of defending and our in ability to be structured at the back left us vunreable. I don't believe Walsall would have hit us so hard if Smith was more central, if Leacock had been given more support and Sheehan/Freeman had a bit more focus, however Sheehan's performance was acceptable.

    Majority of the goals were 'gifted' and it made someone look far more impressive than he was, Brandy really didn't do much apart from school.

    Now, I do accept Walsall played well and they sensed our trouble but if it wasn't for Bart we might have perhaps sunk further. It's a result which doesn't really bother me, we will have games like this and it's for Derry to demand better focus. He perhaps should have tried to address the space we left open before the 2nd goal, though he's learning and I am sure a postive response will follow. Fair play to Walsall and their fans, the few I spoke to were very friendly.

    Shame Brandy doesn't realize this.

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