Update.

(74) Enoru hits the side-netting after bringing Palmer's long ball under his control in the area.

Cambridge 4 Notts 0

As much as I love Mark Stallard, his comments about Cambridge United seem incredibly biased, because if I take myself away from being a Notts fan and I am not afraid to give them credit they have been outstanding. They have wanted every ball, worked for every goal and yes there's some sly stuff like manhandling and simulating fouls but that doesn't deflect from them having been by far the best team.

They have been very good, and that would always make it hard for Notts.

We have been poor, and quite a shambles in what is a 6 pointer. Even after sending someone off and them being down to 10 men, we still haven't been good enough. I hope we aren't bottling the automatics without a fight, because by today's performance we don't deserve it which is a shame because we've been class at times. I don't think our away form has been good enough, but dust ourselves off and make the last 3 games count for something.

Update.

(87) Hughes tips Ndlovu:s header on to the post - and Luker's offside as he tries to bundle the loose ball home.

Cambridge 4-0 Notts

Full time

Cambridge 4 Notts 0

We’ve been totally humiliated today, where was the fight? They’ve bottled it. I never saw that coming at all. Horrendous.

It is Notts's heaviest defeat since their first game back in League 2 when they lost 5:1 at Sutton at the start of the 2023/24 season.

Our limitations were exposed today.

It was the perfect storm really - top side, in a tiny ground and pitch, awful wind, vulnerable sub-standard(for L2 promo) personnel, mainly down to injuries, and as I bang on about too much, MP refusing to play Iorpenda in CM, always preferring to go negative with the totally ordinary Norburn.

We need a fit Jatta, Jones and Tsaroulla to have any chance at all. Somehow the last 3 games have to be used to get some confidence back before the play-offs.

League 2 Table after today's matches

25 minutes ago, Chris said:

As much as I love Mark Stallard, his comments about Cambridge United seem incredibly biased, because if I take myself away from being a Notts fan and I am not afraid to give them credit they have been outstanding. They have wanted every ball, worked for every goal and yes there's some sly stuff like manhandling and simulating fouls but that doesn't deflect from them having been by far the best team.

They have been very good, and that would always make it hard for Notts.

Absolutely right @Chris. They're a top L2 side.

Any numpty saying Salford are more of a problem doesn't know football.

Going into a key game against a team like Cambridge at this time of the season without the likes of Platt, Jatta and Jones was always going to be difficult. It was definitely a below strength team, but to play for 50 minutes or so with an extra man and not have a single shot on target is unacceptable. Two of our players for the future that came on today didn't have an impact. If we are want to get promoted, we are going to have a look at our recruitment policy. There needs to be more focus on the here and now. Focus not just on technical ability but also on mental strength, winning mentality. If we do get promoted this season, the summer recruitment will be even more important than ever.

Proper got lucky avoiding this car crash

Just watched MP's interview. He's so angry he's almost in tears. And I get why. This is his big break as a manager. He's navigated the data model, the recruitment strategy, the injuries and suspensions, the crap referees, and got us to a point where we had a fighting chance of autos with four games left. Yes he's made mistakes but he's been so dedicated and relentless, always talking about 'what it means to play for Notts County'. Then the players deliver that.

4 goals, 4 set-pieces. Well let’s get this over with quickly.

First goal is a mess, but we’ve got Iorpenda, Ness and Macari all marking no-one but the same one bit of space. Second goal, Ness exerts so much effort trying to push Bedeau over he then misses an easy chance to to just head the ball away. Third goal both Ness and Bedeau get beaten to the ball, but fair play it’s a cracking finish, they can have that one. Forth goal, Gibbons is unmarked and we’ve got a player advantage, I’ll say no more…

I guess that can be fixed but it’s the manner of the defeat that is so disappointing, this was supposed to be two good teams going toe-to-toe, a chance for us to show what we can do and why we deserve to get that automatic spot. But we just never got going and all our confidence was clearly drained by the time the third goal went in. It's matches like these that really don't fill you with hope with the potential of play-offs looming.

I still don’t know what was worse being 3-0 down after 30 minutes or playing a whole 2^nd half against 10 and not being able to score, but still concede.

What a demoralising and humiliating day yesterday was.

Cambridge were very good and started with high intensity just like @theAnticlough warned us they would. MP's game plan was clearly to hang in there and unleash our more creative players at the end. Jones, Hall and Dennis pose more of a goal threat than the side we fielded but offer nothing defensively. I would maybe have replaced Grant for this game.

But the performance was unprofessional irrespective of who was starting and IMO you can't blame such a collapse in performance levels on the head coach. The players have to take responsibility. By the time of the sending off we were already out of the game and we were a distant second best against ten men too.

The game was gone by the time he came on, but Enoru can't possibly be as bad as he's looked so far. The referee only left him on the pitch out of pity.

That was a serious setback but we just have to park it and move on. If you do go up, we are going to need serious investment or we'll struggle to get 40 points next season.

EMBARRASSING !!!!

Credit @ARLukomski

At the end of the day Notts were missing lots of first team players in key positions. It's obvious that the squad as a whole isn't strong enough, & this has been the problem since Notts got promoted. I believe it's a big reason why Notts don't seem able to play consistently well over a full season. Six wins and six defeats in their last twelve matches demonstrates this failing very well.

2 hours ago, Robbie said:

At the end of the day Notts were missing lots of first team players in key positions. It's obvious that the squad as a whole isn't strong enough, & this has been the problem since Notts got promoted. I believe it's a big reason why Notts don't seem able to play consistently well over a full season. Six wins and six defeats in their last twelve matches demonstrates this failing very well.

Yes and maybe any team will drop off missing half of its starting 11

Platt, Robertson, Tsaroulla, Jones, Jatta

....and then the first reserve for Platt - McDonald. And maybe Tangan could be considered a starter.

It adds up to a massive blow. We had Belshaw, Beseau, Macari. Palmer, Iorpenda + reserves on Saturday.

We have been ravaged. It's desperately bad luck and MP, Monty, the players left, deserve a pass. But better not to feel sorry for ourselves - there's still a promotion out there to win.

Edited Monday at 17:103 days by theAnticlough