Match Discussion: Play Off Final - The Spireites

[KB1862]

The pressure was more on Notts than Chesterfield for this one. 107 points, 117 goals and still not enough to win the title.

Football can be a cruel game and in these one off games the season means nothing.

Fortunately for us, we got the job done and back in the Football League. 

It felt like one of those games where nothing was going right and it just wasn't going to happen for us. Langstaff shooting wide after being played through by Palmer, Austin sending his shot high. 

We did lack abit of quality in the final 3rd though. Everything was good building up to break Chesterfield down but despite being in some good positions we just couldn't get anything to materialised and things broke down and crosses going astray. 

Nemane did well down the right hand side and caused a lot of problems. Bostock for me was MOTM controlled the game well and let off some good passing play.

On first glance, I thought the penalty was a soft decision but having seen it a few times it was the right call. 

The substitution to bring on Mair in preparation for penalties from Luke Williams was a stroke of genius and well thought it. Both his saves were brilliant, especially his second. I have to admit, I've watched that save more than anything else in this game

When Bostock stepped up to take his penalty, I thought the win was in the bag. No idea why he thought it was good idea in that situation to try a panenka. But I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he missed on purpose to give Cedwyn Scott a chance at redemption for his missed penalty against Wrexham and allow him to score the winning penalty to take us back in to the Football League

One thing about this game and the one against Boreham Wood is the fact that this team does not quit and they show real heart to get the job done. 

[PON_News]

The Pride of Nottingham Match Report is now live:

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Read up on the Pride of Nottingham gaffer’s thoughts on the promotion win against Chesterfield at Wembley and what the future might hold for Notts County!

[liampie]

chesterfield were a lot like boreham wood just a lot better, they have transformed into a decent team who looked good on the wembley pitch. i wished they would cut out the timewasting, the referee was smart to it but did not give any bookings. i also feel they were lucky to have 10 men come the end of the game. notts should have lumped the ball forward then tried to keep it on the ground with our midfield working hard to maintain the ball. instead of our defence being forced into mistakes and pressure due how chesterfield ran everything down. they did the pressure on notts for sure.

i thought notts were better overall, if you count all the time they spent creating chances and were on top of the game.

chesterfield just did better in the first half, but they did look good on goal after. notts looked a little lacking, i think macaulay langstaff should have tried to buy some more time when he had some of his chances instead of rushing his shot.

its great to be promoted1 better to have seen it. very proud of the team.

[Callum234]

What a game.What a season. I still can't believe we've done it. We've have been absolutely quality throughout the season and are marginally unlucky to not go up as champions. 

The mentality that Luke Williams has installed into the players has been remarkable. In previous seasons we would have been written of when we were 2-0 down at home to BW. 

This team are really a different animal. I'm so happy to see my first promotion with notts hopefully there's more great times to come. We are going up #COYP. 

 

[Joshua]

The game had its highs and lows for both teams. While some Notts fans may view the entire performance as poor, it's important to consider the performance of other teams such as Chesterfield. Fitzsimons, in particular, had a comedy hour with his blunders. He went from being decent to a crumbling fool.

Notts had spells where they looked likely to win and times where they struggled, but that's just football. There were plenty of chances for them to win. It's not realistic to expect Notts to play as if they were at Meadow Lane. The performance was good enough to win and the penalties were all well taken. It was to our benefit that Fitzsimons couldn't catch a cold or save a penalty.

[super_pie]

I think it was a very close game although I think our goal over the first half was to tire them out which began to show in the second half, I think overall we definitely deserved to win mainly due to our season being so great but they definitely kept us all on the edge.

[jsrjay]

Ok so I'm a forest fan. But I cant be more delighted to see Notts back in the football league.

For Notts to finish on 107 points and not get promoted would of been a travesty.

Overall the 2 best teams in the league got promoted. 

[JIMBO]

Promotion is more important than performance, but Notts didn’t put in a terrible display.

A lot of it can be attributed to nerves and not adjusting quickly enough to Chesterfield’s fast attacks. They pushed Notts and the defenders couldn’t find much space. Good teams in League Two will find ways to close us down, so it’s clear that we need to focus on this area.

I thought Archie Mair’s saves were superb for a young keeper. He kept his cool and did remarkably well.

Seeing the celebrations unfold on the pitch brought back happy memories of the 90s. It was great to see the players finally relax and laugh it off.

[Fan of Big Tone]

I went to the semi final at Meadow Lane with my family, that game was so nerve racking but thoroughly enjoyable. I really wanted to go to Wembley but my son and family were away on holiday so I had no one to go with (Billy no mates) which is a shame because being realistic it’s possibly the last time I’ll get the chance at my age. However I watched on the telly with Mrs. Fan of Big Tone, what a match it was and it was fantastic to see our fans celebrating at the end I was so jealous. The result brought me to tears I was so emotional to see us return to the league. 
 

What a master stroke by Luke Williams to bring on young Archie Mair, those penalty saves were tremendous. 

I can’t wait until next season.