Chris

It just gets better and better for Notts, who sit proudly atop the League Two table following impressive wins over Lincoln City and Exeter City. But now, arguably the biggest clash of the season for the Magpies, a trip to the One Call Stadium to face Mansfield Town this Saturday. Pride of Nottingham spoke to well-known photographer, Billy Davies 'nemesis' and Stags fan Dan Westwell to get the lowdown on his beloved team. Background: 43 years old, first Stags game 1986. Lots of favourite players over the years, George Foster, Paul Holland, Ian Bowling, Chris Greenacre, Michael Boulding, Bobby Hassell to name a few. What do you make of current owner John Radford? I love him. I can’t thank him enough for rescuing us 7 years ago. He’s put a lot of money into the club to get us out of that hellhole we were in for 5 years. I really hope we go up and even if it’s for just one season, I’d love it for us to get to the Championship to fulfil his dream & reward him for everything he has done for us. You were tipped as promotion contenders at the start of the season - what do you make of that tag? I think it was the bookies' ignorance. They looked at Steve Evans record of 9 promotions and the fact that we got our business done straightaway & it just made them stick us up as favourites. I think Luton, Exeter, Coventry, Swindon, Wycombe, Cambridge, Carlisle, Crewe, Port Vale should all have been above us in the odds table but the bookies aren’t usually wrong, let’s hope they’re right again in May. Steve Evans is a very Marmite manager - are you impressed with him as your manager? When he was appointed I kept pinching myself as i couldn’t believe how lucky we were. I still think we’re lucky although some of his antics are getting a bit embarrassing at the moment, but that’s Steve Evans. Marmite is a brilliant description of him. I would say more people hate him than like him, but i would also say that most clubs in L1 & L2 would love to have him as their Manager, as he’s been there and done it. His experience could be the difference between going up and not going up. He did well by getting all of our signings sorted in June/July, but that made a lot of ignorant people say “Mansfield are spending millions” and “Steve Evans is going to bankrupt Mansfield” but what they didn’t see is that he released 11 players and signed 11 players more or less in the same couple of weeks. Matt Green was on a big wage as were a couple of others, so getting rid of them made us able to sign proper quality players from League One. I don’t think we needed all the players we signed as we had the 4th best defensive record out of all 92 clubs last season, then he goes and signs 3 defenders, but he knows what he’s doing so we have to trust him. There are several East Midlands derbies in League Two this season - which is the biggest for you? The biggest derby for all Stags fans is Ch*sterfield. There is pure hatred there. I know there’s a few Notts fans who hate Stags but I’m afraid the feeling isn’t mutual with most of us. I always call our game ‘the friendly derby’ because that’s how we look at Notts. Don’t get me wrong we love to beat Notts the same as Ch*sterfield, but if you gave us a choice of who to take 6 points from, it would be the woolly ones every time. Lincoln is another derby game that’s tasty, on a par with Notts. There’s always a few idiots from all 3 clubs who like to cause trouble, as we’ve seen over the years. To back up my ‘friendly derby’ comment, we bring more fans to Notts than we get for home games, because people enjoy the trip to Nottingham, a few beers at the waterfront, Hooters, it’s easy to get to by train and of course with us not having electricity or water over in Mansfield it’s a big treat to visit a big city! Who are your squad's danger men? It’s hard to predict our danger men because on paper we’ve got a lot but on the pitch we’ve not really shown much danger apart from a brilliant 80 minutes against Luton. There’s a few who if they show their true potential will be a great asset. Paul Anderson, Jacob Mellis, Will Atkinson, Alex MacDonald, Calum Butcher & Alfie Potter all have got the potential to be match winners on their day and have got experience in the Championship/L1. We’ve also got former Notts defender Krystian Pearce who was player of the season last year. He scored twice against Grimsby recently so I’m sure he would like to grab a goal against his old club. What do you think the score/scorers will be? Predicting the game is impossible. My heart says we’ll win 2-0, my head says we’ll lose 0-2. I’d take a point if it was offered now, so I’ll go for a 0-0 draw and get splinters. May the best team win and hopefully it’s football that we’re talking about after the game. Share your thoughts about this Opposition View piece on Pride of Nottingham by signing up to the website, visiting the forum and joining in the chat with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

Notts County have cemented their hold on top spot in League Two with a clinical performance to beat second-placed Exeter City 3-0 at St James Park on Tuesday night. Lewis Alessandra set the Magpies on their way with an opportunistic lob after just two minutes before substitute Jorge Grant added a further two goals in the second half. The result, a sixth successive league victory for Kevin Nolan's men, sees them three points clear at the top of the table. Here is an in-depth analysis of the game from Chris. Was the result fair? I take a lot of joy from saying this, Notts County wholeheartedly deserved to win at Exeter yesterday! The home side simply failed to take their chances in the first half, and a superb second half performance sealed the victory for the Magpies – there’s no luck involved at all, the better team went home happy. How did Notts play? Notts played very well, the first half had patches but at the back Richard Duffy ensured that Adam Collin was well protected. From the off, Notts looked bright and eager to prove to League Two that they’re a serious outfit meaning to do the business this campaign. A very strong, spirited second half saw the Magpies play some good stuff. How did Exeter play? I wouldn’t suggest they played badly, however their hyping up of the game really didn’t help them. It gave The Grecians the pressure, especially being on home turf and despite some good chances in the first half – they just simply weren’t able to tuck of their opportunities a way. Did our tactics work out? The five changes meant that Notts had several pairs of fresh legs playing, a decision which in all fairness could have backfired – however with this Notts squad we all know that players are more likely to respond positively. From the off, Lewis Alessandra proved this point and it shows just how universal the team tactics are right now. Kevin Nolan did his homework by injecting height into the squad, so tactically we were spot on. How did the referee perform? The referee did alright, and for once I find myself thinking that we actually had a sensible referee. Due to this the game played out quite smoothly, and although some decisions may have been missed – I think it worked in favour of both teams rather than any decisions to favour a single team. Who do we play next? Next up is six fingers, seven toes and no thumbs – aka Mansfield Town. This game has more momentum behind it than the Exeter City game, thus making it far more important and no doubt a tricky local derby. How should we play them? Notts have been building nicely from the back in recent games, it’s important that we play with the right balance against Mansfield – as I feel they will try to press us more and ultimately attempt to close us down. It’s important that we keep the play simple, passing short and avoiding anything fancy. When Notts assumes control by passing around the centre of the park, spreading the ball out wide – it creates so much space that opposition sides don’t know whether to drop deeper or push up tighter. This is a vital aspect, as will allowing Jon Stead to gather players to make him tightly – in all fairness it would be useful to have Shola Ameobi back as his holding up of the ball and clever flicks would had a lot to our game plan. However, we just have to be sensible within our play and use the creativity that players like Rob Milsom and Jorge Grant have to offer. Exeter fan views (from Exeweb) grecian-near-hell: Personally I didn't rate Notts County that highly, I thought they were slow and ponderous with too many wayward passes for a table topping team, and will be found out (like ourselves) shortly. That said we were worse. I didn't think we had any shape about us, the defence could so easily have been ripped apart with a far worse scoreline than 3-0 had NC had speedy wingers/forwards.Regrettably I think TAH has had his day he's got the turning circle of a juggernaut and last night neither of the Troy's appeared to have any understanding of what the other was doing. Like NC too many wayward passes from defence and midfield to runners who weren't there. Jayden Stockley really needs to contact David Wheeler to find out how he seemed to float so long after he jumped for the ball, too often last night Stockley had jumped too soon and was on the way down before the ball got to him either from kick offs or crossing and on a couple of occassions this could have bought us a goal - he really does need to parctice his heading and jumping, but that's the (alleged) £400k difference I suppose. The midfield also had a nightmare, as mentioned too many passes going astray Lee Holmes not weaving his magic. The match although billed as top of the table did not live up to expectations which was a shame bearing in mind the good sized crowd for a midweek match.Oh well live and learn and we move on matches like last night emphasised why we are a fourth division side with players to match. DanceMagnet: A simple question, Mr Tisdale. When you're up against two slow defenders in Nicky Hunt and Richard Duffy, why do you start with no pace up front? Instead you play Stockley and Reid together when it was blatantly obvious at Coventry that partnership wasn't working and would likely suit there central defenders more than somebody capable of running at them. It was also pretty obvious from the start that the midfield needed strengthening. Why that did not happen at half time (at the latest) I'll never know. Boating should have been on then. Instead, we have to wait until we go two down until we make a substitution - too bleeding late, mate. Mr Jan Yeo: We were punished for some sloppy play, but I didn't feel we were far away from that being a completely different result. Seen us play a lot worse and still get something from the game. County were good and played us off the park for long periods. We seemed to struggle initially to break them down but definitely had a few decent spells that would've seen the game completely change if the ball had fallen right. We can't win them all and aren't the best in the league, so I'm not too surprised. We'll bounce back soon enough. Share your thoughts about this tactical analysis piece on Pride of Nottingham by signing up to the website, visiting the forum and joining in the chat with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

Yesterday whilst appearing as a guest on BBC Nottingham’s Match Talk, I was asked the question by David Jackson - "is it time to believe in promotion yet?" It’s a question which I have asked fans myself, and it's one which the majority seem unsure how to answer. Myself, I always remain optimistic about any season, especially as the table is still taking shape - but the 2017-18 season does seem special. I also recall a discussion that was started by PON member Liampie which asked “Should we avoid getting carried away?” At the time I felt similar, although I would say I was more quietly optimistic. I could already sense a ‘positive vibe’ around Meadow Lane that just felt that season could be very different, I always tend to warn caution to the fans I know – yet it’s difficult when things are going in your favour for once to play down the fact Notts could gain promotion. It’s still very early days within League Two, however I do believe we as supporters should try to really get behind the team. In our match against Lincoln City, it was brilliant to see so many fans being vocal about encouraging the Kop to sing and once the home support had silenced the away end (the opposition fans didn’t really do much did they?) – it was one of the most enjoyable experiences that I had had in a number of seasons. Not just purely because our lads controlled the second half well, or due to Lincoln continuing to try to get something from the match – despite all hopes. It was more so because everyone around me - and I moved around the Kop as I watched the game - was fully enjoying themselves and I honestly feel it made a huge impact on the way that Notts played. It’s also good to see that we have a bench made up of players who could start regularly and the fact we have a manager who can make several changes now that he knows who forms the best starting 11. Another point made by David Jackson was the amount of luck which we had, as any fan will know we have had a tendency to attract opposite previous seasons. Yet the striking difference this term is how hard-working we are as a team, this was visual against Swindon Town – a game which the majority felt we didn’t quite have the power to shrug them off, but we did manage to keep them mostly quiet. I felt extremely proud during that game, as for once it seemed like we had a team which would protect the lead at all cost. A team that would run, scrap and work hard for their manager. It’s still very early days, and I would echo the discussion myself and Joe Jones had in the latest Pride of Nottingham PONcast – things can change differently, yet whilst the squad works hard and puts in those determined performances – no matter what happens on the pitch, we will always be better off, and I think that is the prime example of what we have witnessed so far during the 2017-18 season. Kevin Nolan has done a fantastic job keeping the players focused, he takes things game-by-game. The Exeter win will have instilled further hope and ambition within my fellow supporters. However, let’s make this season less about luck and more about the passionate, free-fighting squad that gets the right results. Share your thoughts about this feature article on Pride of Nottingham by signing up to the website, visiting the forum and joining in the chat with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

How good does it feel to be a Notts County fan right now? Kevin Nolan has masterminded an epic climb to the top of League Two, the foundations of the club appear steady from top to bottom, and every so often a nice little bit of PR in the form of, say Matt Tootle's goal celebration, gives the club exposure on a global scale. But it's still early days, and tonight, the Magpies will be given their harshest test, taking on previous fourth-tier leaders and current second-placed side Exeter City away at St James' Park. Ahead of tonight's clash, Pride of Nottingham has spoken to Grecians fan Nathan Smith (Twitter: @Nathanecfc) to get an insight on the opposition. About Nathan: I'm 16 years old, I started supporting Exeter when I was around 5 and I was taken to a game for my birthday and since then, I've been a fan! My all time favourite player would probably be Richard Logan as was one of those players that just scored the important goals. For example, the winner against Rotherham which sent us into League One. Q1- You had financial troubles in the mid-00's how did you overcome these? It all started in 2003 when the club was raided by police and took the chairman, his wife and the vice chairman in for questioning. This led to future chairman Dr David Treharne and other members of the trust going into Ivor Doble (who was the majority shareholder at the club) and paying £20,000 to purchase the club. Doble agreed and the deal was announced on the 5th of September. Despite the takeover, Exeter had to enter a CVA in order to reduce the £4.5 million debt left behind by the owners. A campaign called 'Red or Dead?' was started to help pay off the debts and the fans managed to raise £140,000. The 2005 FA cup games vs Manchester United meant that the clubs debts had been basically cleared due to the tv and ticket revenue. Q2- You famously have links to the Brazil team, how have you kept this link alive? The link between Exeter and Brazil obviously goes a long way back and most recently, the club went on a tour of Brazil in 2014. We played 3 different teams, including Fluminense at the same venue in which Exeter played Brazil back in 1914. Unfortunately, the tour did not go exactly to plan as some of the squad caught a illness which led to Tisdale having to name himself on the bench for the opening game! Q3- Tell us about your FA Cup matches with Manchester United in 2005? To be 100% honest, I didn't go as 3 year old me probably wasn't that keen! But, I do know that the games where huge for the club as they wiped off most of the clubs debts + getting a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford during Sir Alex Ferguson's reign is a huge achievement for a conference side. For the replay, we saw a young Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney take the stage and they ran out 2-0 winners. Q4- You were bottom of the League Two table last November, but you ended up making the play-offs. How did the turnaround come about? At the start of the season, we were absolutely awful at home, while our away form while not being great, kept us near the teams above us. The two reasons we ended up in the play offs was our fantastic away form, in which we broke our personal record for most away wins in a season, and we also changed the way we played at home. We were very guilty of keeping the ball for the sake of keeping the ball and teams with a bit of power would just bully us and roll us over. We became more direct, relying on the aerial strength of David Wheeler and we also became very hard to score against, as we went through a period in December/January of barely conceding. Q5- Who are your teams dangermen? Reuben Reid is the top goalscorer in the league with 7 goals which makes him our biggest danger man. He is a clinical finisher in front of goal with great strength and decent pace. Lee Holmes is another danger man as despite not having a lot of pace, the winger is comfortable on both sides of the pitch and can easily take on the opposition full back. We have one of the better centre back pairs in the league but captain Jordan Moore-Taylor picked up a knock vs Coventry so I'm not sure whether he will play. The other half of the pair, Troy Brown is one of Tisdale's success stories as he arrived slightly overweight after two straight relegations with two different clubs. He has become a strong centre half with a powerful header and he is physically great. I'd also watch out for 16 year old Jack Sparkes who can make an impact if selected. Q6- What do you think the score and goalscorers will be? I'm going to go with a 1-1 draw with Jayden Stockley getting our goal. Share your thoughts about this Opposition View piece on Pride of Nottingham by signing up to the website, visiting the forum and joining in the chat with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

So Notts County have taken their place at the top of the pile in League Two following their marvellous 4-1 win over Lincoln City at the weekend. They now face their biggest mission, taking on second-placed Exeter City away at St James' Park on Tuesday night. Here is Chris's scouting report for our midweek game this week. History Notts County and Exeter City have met a total of 44 times over their history. The first meeting came at St James’ Park in Division Three (South) on 1 November 1930, and it which finished as a 3-3 draw. The Magpies have an excellent record against the Grecians; out of those 43 games, Notts claimed a result in 36, with 17 wins and 19 draws. Our recent form (last five) is not too bad, with two wins, two draws and one defeat. Run-down of their last six fixtures Saturday 26th August – Cheltenham Town 3 Exeter City 4 Saturday 2nd September – Exeter City 1 Newport County 0 Saturday 9th September – Forest Green Rovers 1 Exeter City 3 Tuesday 12th September – Barnet 1 Exeter City 2 Saturday 16th September – Exeter City 3 Crewe Alexandra 0 Saturday 23rd September – Coventry City 2 Exeter City 0 The Players – Fact Sheet Highest Goal Scorers; Reuben Reid 7, Lee Holmes 2, Jake Palmer 2 and Jayden Stockley 2. Persistent Foulers; Lloyd James 4 yellow cards, Jordan Tillson 3 yellow cards, Hiram Boateng 2 yellow cards and Reuben Reid 1 yellow card. The Key Players The standout player for Exeter City is Reuben Reid who is a versatile player able to drift onto the wing, whilst remaining a lethal finisher upfront – his experience within League Two is one of their main focus points. In midfield the duo of Lloyd James and Jake Taylor offer them a lot of creativity, with the pair easily being the driving force behind the team. Jordan Tillson also likes to get forward from defence and is a very robust player at the back – who is tactically aware at most times. Style of Play, Strengths, and Weaknesses Exeter City use a mix of passing on the ground and using the air to confuse their opposition, they appear very comfortable attacking in both fashions – yet they look more dangerous when they attack through the centre of the park. Going forward they are very confident, and can force play by passing in awkward positions which makes it harder to defend from an oppositions point of view. They move strategically going forward which invites play for their strikers, and look to draw their counter-parts out as a way to get on goal sight. Defensively they look awkward when teams assert pressure, and against taller opposition teams they can tend to leak goals – however they generally avoid relapses in their concentration and organise themselves very effectively. Notts will have to stand tall upfront, walking hard to make use of whatever chances may fall their way. Space will be given outside their area which Notts could use to their advantage, yet space within the penalty area should be limited due to the tightness that Exeter leave. Corners would be best to use a second player to drill in the pass – rather than going direct and any chance on goal sight must be taken. Share your thoughts about this scouting report on Pride of Nottingham by signing up to the website, visiting the forum and joining in the chat with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

One of the main talking points between Notts County v Lincoln City was the 28th minute incident, where Billy Knott dangerously went in studs showing on Ryan Yates – which earned The Imps player a red card. However, despite the media and Lincoln manager Danny Cowley labelling it as the ‘changing moment’ – I would honestly disagree. The first half wasn’t productive for either sides, the way Lincoln set themselves up cancelled out both teams and the game ended largely even despite them going down to 10 men – which for me was the correct decision. Danny Cowley believes his players have ‘personal space’ on the pitch, but as an ex-footballer he should know there is no such thing. He said: “It’s quite clear that Billy Knott is about to hook the ball on and Ryan Yates, ridiculously bravely, throws his head into Billy’s personal space and there’s a bit of contact.” – yet what you see is a player going for a ball before any movement is made by any Lincoln player. What is ridiculous is the fact this bad challenge is being used as a very weak excuse as to why his side lost a football match. Knott dangerously kicks high, his studs are raised and it’s clear that with such a tight amount of space that any sort of high movement would be dangerous – I find it ludicrous that a manager wouldn’t acknowledge this, let alone believe he stands a chance at having the decision rescinded. Let’s face it, the red card wasn’t remotely the defining moment in the game but of course bitter people will suggest this. Despite going down to 10 men Lincoln still enjoyed spells of the first half, where I actually felt that they didn't appear to be without a player at all – they seemed to cope fine and even after Jon Stead scored they looked decent in control. I was taking pictures when they scored, however I spoke to several fans and they all praised Lincoln for getting back into the game. The defining moment was after they scored, Notts County simply got on with it and took control of the game by pulling themselves 2-1. This for me is the ‘defining moment’, as it appeared Notts had broken the chains which restrained them within the first half. You could argue that it created space, yet I encourage people who read this – go back and look at how Lincoln organised themselves. And the Pride of Nottingham Man of the Match Jon Stead deserves a lot of praise with how he dealt with being heavily marked – perhaps if Lincoln hadn’t decided to stick multiple players on him they would have handled the space better. Seriously, I believe there was a positive reaction to Lincoln scoring and I know Kevin Nolan has mentioned that he sees we have 6-7 leaders on the pitch but it was almost like the opposition side didn’t exist, regardless if they was one man down. After Matt Tootle scored, Lincoln seemed to be broken. Perhaps it was frustration or simply that Notts did truly shown their class within the squad half – yet whatever we threw at them they simply didn’t defend well. There’s little excuses beyond how Lincoln defended, hence why I feel that the red card is their way of clutching onto defeat. After the match, I walked back to the train station with a group of 100+ Lincoln fans due to the Nottinghamshire police pushing into their path and I didn’t hear any complaints about the red card or the referee. The only comment I heard was about how it would have been nice for them to end the game with 11 players on the pitch, yet notably accepted that they Notts ‘were one of the better teams’ The Imps had played. I actually felt they gave us a decent game, and played some good stuff attacking wise but from a defensive point of view they panicked, simple as that. Share your thoughts about this feature article on Pride of Nottingham by signing up to the website, visiting the forum and joining in the chat with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.