Notts County v Colchester.

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

League 2.

Tues 18th Feb 2025: 7:45pm

Notts v Colchester.

What line-up should Stuart Maynard opt for? 

What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? 

What do you think the final score will be?

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

This will be a tough game against Colchester who are on an impressive six game unbeaten run, which includes an impressive home win against top of the table Walsall.

Notts will need to be at their best against a side that has  former Forest striker Lyle Taylor leading their attack & is currently their top scorer.

It should be an entertaining game because Colchester won't come to the lane to sit back & let Notts dictate the play.

Notts will be hoping that Jones, McGoldrick & Whitaker will be fit enough to play, as they were missed against Port Vale.

Key areas as far as I'm concerned will be in defence midfield & upfront where Notts will need to be clinical & take their chances when they present themselves.

A win is an absolute must on Tuesday evening. Notts must try to win as many of the nine remaining home games as they can. My prediction is a win after a hard fought game. I will  say 2:0 or 3:1 Notts. 

[Fan of Big Tone 𝕏 @mainstandpie]

Colchester are no mugs they are on a good run, I’m hoping our key players are back and firing on all cylinders, being at home in front of our fans I’m hoping we can get a much needed win.

[menzinho]

Generally speaking when we lose we do tend to quickly bounce back, we’ve only had back to back defeats once all season and those were away games. Colchester have improved but I think a top half finish is their peak, they’ve only won 3 times away this season, equally only lost 3 too, so they basically set up to not lose away from home. They would 100% take a draw and I think a 0-0, 1-1 is the kind of result they will be looking to get (grind out). And whilst the win against Walsall was impressive since January, they’ve had a very favourable set of fixtures (Carlisle, Accrington, Morecambe, Harrogate, Tranmere…)

Be interesting to see who just randomly drops out the squad through injury for this one, I’ll go for Bedeau, he’s due an injury… Hopefully not the case though! I was surprised to see Mai Traore in the squad so quickly, suspect he’ll be on the bench again but might possibly get a bit more time on the pitch this time out he was unlucky with that chance against Port Vale, clearly will score soon. Really hoping at least one of Didzy or Whitaker is back for this one, their creativity in that final third will be massive boost.

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

It's Matchday.

 

[Dripsey3]

Colchester won't sit back I reckon. That will suit us just fine. We need to take our chances. A 1-0 lead going into the final 10 minutes could well end up 1-1. Jody and Ditzy are key but I reckon Mai will be the difference tonight. 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Stuart has selected his team.

Whittaker & Austin on the bench.

Still no Didzy 

 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

The match begins.

 

GOOOOOAAAAAL GRANT

 

 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Update.

 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Half Time.

 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Back to it 

 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Update.

Colchester equalise.

Own goal Johnson.

 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Update..

 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Update.

Update.

 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Update.

 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Full time 

The points are shared.

 

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

League 2 table after tonight's games 18/02/25. Notts are in 4th place.

[Fan of Big Tone 𝕏 @mainstandpie]

Disappointing result, Notts didn’t play to their full potential by any stretch of the imagination, in fact it could have been worse we could have lost that one. It’s a shame because we got off to a flying start with the early goal and I was expecting them to build on it and push on to get more goals, unfortunately it didn’t happen. We are definitely missing our key players Jones, McGoldrick and Bedau.

On to Tranmere and hopefully bounce back.

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

Let's hear from the Boss 

 

[Fan of Big Tone 𝕏 @mainstandpie]

One thing I noticed which ought to be worked on is corners, I counted at least 3 corners from Palmer that failed to beat the first defender at the near post, a corner is an ideal opportunity to get a cross into the box and when the likes of Jatta is in there there’s a good chance he’ll get his head on it. So come on Matt Palmer do some work on them corners please.

[Robbie 𝕏 @Robbie_NCFC]

I'm satisfied that Notts came out with a point tonight. It is clear that Notts are missing Didzy & our best creative player, Jodi Jones.

I think that we have to give credit to Colchester who are in a run of good form at the moment & probably deserved the draw.

Notts also missed Jacob Bedeau. It's hard for a player like Zak Johnson to come in and forge a good partnership at the back straight from the get go. 

Pleased that Conor Grant scored an early goal for Notts & they did have chances to increase their lead & the result could easily have been a win for Notts.

We've gained a point & we haven't lost any ground at the top being only two points behind 2nd spot. Onwards we go with another home match against Tranmere on Saturday.

[CliftonMagpie]

Notts were disappointingly poor today, especially in defence. Colchester United weren’t much better, but they defended well. Notts only played in spells, and a stronger side would have taken all three points. I’m not sure why we waited so long to take off Curtis Edwards. He put in the effort but wasn’t really in the game. We needed more energy on the ball, and while he had some good moments, his decision-making let him down.

A draw was probably fair, but without Alex Bass, Colchester would have caused us far more problems. Midfield felt empty at times, so it wasn’t just the defence struggling. Rod McDonald got caught out for the equaliser, and Matt Platt and Zak Johnson should have done better. I don’t blame Bass – a defender should have marked the scorer.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

Bass - 7 - Kept us in it at times - mostly saves you'd expect him to make, but make them he did. Some dodgy kicking that didn't even get close to the halfway line.

McDonald - 5.5 - Poor defending, slow distribution.

Platt - 5 - Strange, strange decision making. Without steady defenders alongside him, made repeated errors. It wasn't technical ability - it was decision making.

Johnson - 4.5 - Poor. Loses his man regularly, their winger tormented him. Colchester had a game plan to target him and press him when on the ball - it worked. Wasn't helped by his fellow defenders. 

 

Gordon - 7 - Blows hot and cold, but was more hot tonight. Some really good crosses that if the attackers were on the front foot - could have been converted more often.

Tsaroulla - 5 - Largely anonymous. When he did beat a man, ran into blind alleys and lost the ball.

 

Palmer - 5.5 - Was OK. Some sloppy passes, corners were abysmal. 

Abbott - 8 - Total different level to anybody else on the park. Stuck out like a sore thumb against League 2 thumpers (both us and them).

Grant - 6 - He got the goal. He was OK. Not sure exactly what he does.

Edwards - 4.5 - Too safe. Picks the backwards pass as default and never positive. Lack of athleticism and slow reactions often undermine him. 

 

Jatta - 5.5 - Wasn't involved a lot. Often on the back foot and reactionary. 

 

 

Subs all too late to really affect the game.
 

 

 

[Dripsey3]

If JJ and Ditzy are out for an extended period of time, we won't be in the running for promotion. The players need to step up but that's not happening. SM seems to be afflicted by self doubt and second guessing himself. We were fortunate to get a point last night. We are fortunate that the next game is against a Tranmere side that is struggling. That is a must win game. We need something to hang onto to. 

[super_ram]

It seems injuries are having a serious effect on both of my teams.