Game 29 - The Railwaymen (H)
Team - Crewe Alexandra
Date - 24/01/2026 15:00
Where - Meadow Lane

What would your starting line-up be? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

Confident. If players as good as Platt, Jones and Jatta are ready to play at their best and join the players we rely on (Bedeau, Macari, Palmer, Iorpenda) then we have a great chance.

We have to continue to play both Jatta and Dennis IMO. It'd be interested to see Dennis' average position for his last few run outs because I think he did play a No.10 role and did OK. He can play that role. Here's a crazy idea I'd like to see tried - play both, and for spells during the game swap Jatta and Dennis. Have Jatta as inside forward and Dennis playing on the last man's shoulder for a while. I think it could throw the opposition.

i think its interesting to see how notts responds to going from weekend, to week day games and then not playing for awhile. our last win was very important, because it did look like we had lost that spark we grew and it does show how much the players are putting in even when games are not going our way. routine is very important, as is form and that brings out the confidence to win.

hopefully, we start to see the difference that the new signings bring to the club and that we can push on. i have no doubt that crewe will be looking to play, and to make things difficult on the pitch.

Notts enter a busy period of games as they face playing five league two games in a fourteen day period. Four of those five games will be at Meadow Lane, so it will be a great opportunity for Notts to consolidate their place in the top seven.

Crewe have desires to get themselves into the top seven. They are currently in tenth place, just three points behind Notts, who lie in seventh. Crewe's record over the last five league matches is two wins, two defeats, & one draw.

Interestingly, Notts have failed to beat Crewe in their last five league matches, so Notts will be keen to reverse that trend. Notts will be expecting a very tough match, & they will certainly have to be at their best on Saturday.

The new signings for Notts, Belshaw, who did well in his debut for Notts, & Enoru, who came on as a sub & made some good runs against Crawley, will figure once again. I don't expect Martin Paterson will make many changes from the side that won at Crawley last Saturday.

Crawley, like all the sides that come to ML will make it difficult by putting players behind the ball & employing a high press & hitting Notts on the break. Notts have to find away to play through these tactics & create enough chances to score goals. That will be the Notts challenge on Saturday.

I listened to Martin's pre Crewe presser and Martin won't be in the dugout against Crewe as he recently had a third yellow card. Martin will probably be in the stands in communication with his coaching staff who will be in the dugout during the game.

Martin also mentioned about him wanting the officials to give more protection to his players like Stuart Maynard used to do on quite a few occasions last season.

Martin was asked about the transfer window & he intimated that he would like to maybe have another striker & an attacking midfielder to add to his squad, but he is concentrating on the players he has to try to get the best out of them.

Maybe we might not see any further movement to and from Notts during the remainder of the transfer window. We will have to see.

I think it's certain there'll be at least 1 in, we have the slots and need a replacement. So even if we don't get our main targets, we'll bring in someone from down the list who can maybe contribute to both positions.

On the other side, it may already be too late for any outgoings? Jatta and Dennis can settle now and concentrate on completing strong seasons where they're both high up the L2 goalscoring charts. Jatta looks happy and motivated to me, especially on last game's showing and Dennis has only played for us for a few months. They can have storming ends to the season and really boost their standing if they put their minds to it.