Tranmere 1-1 Notts County

Another match day, another bad first half, another good second half, another decent result. Notts' trip to Tranmere saw the Magpies a goal down at half-time, despite a decent performance, but once again turned it on in the second half, inspirational firebrand captain Neal Bishop with the equaliser which led to a frantic finish as both teams desperately tried to win it. Notts started the game with a 4-4-2 formation, Francois Zoko starting up front alongside John Cofie and Alan Judge on the left.

The first chance of the game came on two minutes, as the frankly amazingly named Max Power fired wide for Rovers. Just three minutes later, Michael O'Halloran troubled Bartosz Bialkowski for the first time, the Notts keeper saving from the forward one on one, and another few minutes later, Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro had a chance of his own. Tranmere were definitely the brighter side in the first ten or so minutes, although the Birkenhead club suffered an early setback as skipper Andy Robinson fell without any provocation and had to be subbed off.

Jamal Campbell Ryce had a few bad moments in the opening instances, losing possession near the touchline, but he did power a very good cross to Zoko who sadly wasn't able to get a shot in, while Judge's ensuing effort was then wide.

Another Rovers played then took a knock and had to be subbed off, Ian Goodison coming off for Donervon Daniels.

After a fairly even opening 28 minutes, Notts were once again stunned in the first-half, as Abdulai Bell-Baggie fired from deep inside the penalty box low into the middle of the goal to gift his side the lead. Bialkowski came out very early, and Bell-Baggie took advantage of this to slide home.

Notts, bemoaning the early loss of the clean sheet once again, nearly equalised from the off, as a cross by Judge was headed on by Neal Bishop and nearly converted by Zoko, while Julian Kelly, who equalised against Bury in the previous game, had another very good chance which was straight at Owain Fon Williams.

The first half ended with the Magpies down on the scoresheet but certainly on the ascendency in terms of pressure and attacking, Tranmere lucky not to have conceded by half time.

The first ten minutes of the second half saw both teams mostly bogged in midfield and creating a couple of half-chances comfortably cleared by the likes of Ash Taylor for the home side and Dean Leacock and Gary Liddle for Notts.

Soon, both teams would spring into life, as Cole Stockton wasted a chance by trying to go solo, resulting in a block and clearance, while a few minutes later, Taylor's effort was bravely saved by Bart.

In response, Jeff Hughes came close with a header in the 65th minute, saved by Fon Williams, while soon after Tranmere caused a scare with their first corner of the game, but Stockton's effort was just over.

Eventually, Notts managed to come from behind once again, as has been the norm over the last couple of games, with a Judge free kick headed into the corner of the Tranmere net by skipper Bishop in the 73rd minute.

Zoko very nearly proved to be the man to put his team in front again a few minutes later, neatly rounding the keeper when through on goal, but wasn't able to finish. On 83 minutes, a delivery by Judge was smashed against the post by Hughes, and buoyed by this action, the game became even more frantic, both sets of fans screaming for their teams to find that all-important winning goal and several players clashing - Power pushed to the Max of his patience and earning a yellow card for his challenge on Zoko - but despite both teams pushing for a goal, the defences were just as driven, and the game finished 1-1.

An away point against a team challenging for promotion may sound like a fair enough result, but judging by the performance and Chris Kiwomya's reaction, Notts definitely had enough quality to win the game, so it may seem like two points wasted. Notts slide to tenth, nine points off the play-offs, but there is definitely a lot to build on, bearing in mind we gave one of the top teams in the division a difficult game, and the new manager has got the team playing good, exciting, promising football again.