Alassana Jatta and Jodi Jones were both on the scoresheet as Notts beat Port Vale 3-1 in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Vale Park this afternoon.

STARTING XI: Griffiths; Bedeau, Platt, Aljofree; Palmer, Iorpenda; Gordon, Cotter; Grant, Jones; Dennis

ALSO MINUTES FOR: Trialist, Robinson, McDonald, Macari, Hinchy, Edwards, Kouhyar, Reynolds, Jarvis, Traore, Jatta

An encouraging win for Notts behind closed doors at Vale Park today. A good win against a side that Notts had trouble with last season when losing home & away to them by the odd goal.

Nice to see Jones & Jatta on the score sheet, Jatta coming on as a substitute in the 2nd half & getting two goals, one being a penalty

The first eleven selected today could very well be the starting eleven for the first league match of the season against Newport, if we don't see any more additions in the next two weeks.

As you say @Robbie an encouraging result hopefully this will calm a few nerves in the run up to the new sea season, now we need more good news on the transfer front and I think people will feel a little happier.

By all accounts it appears that Jodi Jones was playing in the number ten role for Notts against Port Vale & he scored a goal too.

If Jodi becomes a success in that role it would be a big bonus for Notts. Having a player that can play on each wing & in an attacking midfield role too gives Martin Paterson plenty of options.

Good result and an interesting lineup for this friendly that reveals some of the manager's thinking. Quite feasible that that's his first 11 as things stand.

Shame there's been no footage released from this besides a short match report it's hard to gauge how well we played. Clearly given we won there'll have been a lot more positives than negatives. And I'd be happy to see Jodi given a chance to play as one of the attacking midfielders, he's got the quality to do it.

I still don't get why it was behind closed doors though. I wonder if clubs actually lose money by putting on friendlies, given the cheaper tickets and lower attendance?

12 minutes ago, menzinho said:

I still don't get why it was behind closed doors though. I wonder if clubs actually lose money by putting on friendlies, given the cheaper tickets and lower attendance?

Perhaps they thought Notts weren’t a big enough draw? As you say it might cost them money to pay stewards, staff etc.

It was a good result against a side that showed their quality last season. They may not have gone all out, but as a friendly, it’s a positive sign for Notts. Still, we’ll need to see how things go once the season kicks off before getting carried away. There’s always that bit of unknown until the real tests begin. I’m glad Jodi and Jatta played. They’re both key to how well we do, and having them involved early is a big plus.