Chris

I know we should've had 2 maybe 3 penalties. I can't remember if it was the Chicksen one which I agreed with, the Langstaff was all day long. My memories become a little foggy now, but I recorded the game. I'll re-watch it sometime, but the officials were dire.

Frustrating game, I thought we were by far the better team, but unfortunately that doesn't win matches - Notts must stop giving sloppy goals away. I have always felt that it would come back to punish us, that said our unbeaten run felt incredible. Very rarely do I moan about referees, although today's seemed absolutely dire! Honestly, I feel without him, we would've won that game and, I know we had chances which should've been taken - whilst I reflect on the types of goals we conceded. We never seemed likely to cope with the poor officiating, sadly for us, it is one of those games and nothing we can do but regroup. Some have expressed that they felt we deserved four penalties, two were absolute clear. Langstaff being pulled down by the throat, should've been given all day. There's no excuse for missing that, even the assistant referee of that side can say it was hard to see. Notts have now got to show their real character and bounce back, I think it will happen and, I'm not concerned that the games are going to be pointed at - as if this is where we lost the league. For heaven’s sake, we're in a promotion race and the lads will do whatever it takes to keep this the case.

It's going to be intresting since they sacked their manager last night, I am not sure what that means for us. I just hope they don't get someone who thinks kicking long balls and being rough will tempoarily fill the managerial gap. They could play some decent football, which is why I am even more surprised Daryl McMahon has been let go. Notts just needs to avoid anything that may slow down the game, keep the ball close and work it into spaces. I am sure we have the creativity to break them down, or even just create good chances. I do think we'll pick up a 2-0 win. 4 more goals would be nice but I honestly feel Dagenham & Redbrdige will make it difficult.

@DangerousSausage Get well, soon DS! Somebody won't want you suffering. Remember, there's always stick to whack people. Or, a bag should be placed around you and then shook up (that was a favourite one). @menzinho It's becoming routine now, isn't it? I usually try to caution myself to say we need to avoid being complacent and while we do, it helps a lot that this squad is fired up right now. Another point I would like to add to your comment, I spoke to @Simon Clark and he put it across that we are pushing Wrexham by winning, whilst they're doing the same for Notts. I think the vast majority of fans feel like the away game against Wrexham will be crucial even though it's right near the end. Provided we keep winning and scoring early, the more pressure which will fall onto Wrexham.

When speaking @callum2569 on the way to meet @super_pie, we spoke about our predictions and I said that I hoped the lads didn't let us down. Boy was I wrong. I have seen clinical comments about Southend being poor, they weren't - we just stopped them from gaining any sort of goalscoring momentum. I thought 2-0 to us was a realistic call, I didn't think those goals would come within 24 minutes of the first half. Southend actually just got undone by good play. Our first goal was a brilliant piece of play through the middle, for Langstaff to get onto and finish. Whereas Bostocks clever cross, it came from nothing - as did Austin's header. It was superbly timed and as Williams said after the game, doing that is such a brave thing to do. I am very pleased for Austin because he's a workhorse and has deserved a bit of the limelight. I never felt Southend would get back into the game with all due respect; we just made it harder and harder. When we took Langstaff off after his second goal, I was surprised how we continued our passing game. It was almost like a bit of exercise in retaining the ball and avoiding dropping that clean sheet we worked so hard to get. To end with another 4 goals, 12 in our last 3 games - it feels like we're truly battling to keep the top spot.

Good result, but another crazy game. Imagine settling for the outcome of a draw, to then see the moment after that - a penalty is awarded. You think this should be enough to see out the game. Oh, no... Langstaff steps up to score two late goals, to continue our six-game undefeated run. Impressive to see Notts take the lead 4 minutes in, plus credit to Yeovil who aren't a bad side. Langstaff is a gem we have wanted for ages, to score a hat trick like this just amazes me. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the goals.

I didn't think Palmer played bad myself; I got more frustrated with Bostock for losing the ball or playing the rushed pass. I mean, when he played a good ball it worked so well, but he was guilty of doing what Rodrigues tends to do when he decides to go for glory, and by that I mean end up being extremely wasteful. Second half Bostock did seem to get his act together. Adebayo-Rowling for me was just poor, always trying to over do his runs towards being predictable when he was going to cross. Defensively clumsy in the first half too. Baldwin had a shocker, but he did well at times and much better in the second half.

Oh man, what a crazy game! The referee had moments where he seemed to not know what to do and, others where he invented his own rules. I don't think he was biased towards anyone and, did call things quite fair. Yet, missing the players who went down and not instructing them to get up or seek medical attention just seems wrong to me. I think he knew Barnet was trying it on but he needed to be firmer. The first half wasn't that bad, we had times were chances came but Notts tended to rush them. Their goal, 100% our fault and that needs stamping out of our gameplay. I felt Notts could score, but it was one of those games I felt the opposition had more luck. @menzinho yes, I did worry. I said to the lads, that we needed to bring Jones on and score at least before the 65th minute. If Barnet had scored a second, it would've been goodnight in my opinion. They started to make tactical changes, to inject pace and thankfully we started to get our act together. Once we did score, I always felt we could go into win. 4-1 one is a bit flattering, but at the same time we did well in spells. I thought Barnet played alright, a bit dirty and time wasted at 1-0 and 1-1, it suggests to me they felt their lead/draw would disappear. Their manager should've walked, total clown.

I can't wait to get back to Meadow Lane tomorrow, with @callum2569 and hopefully, @super_pie. Barnet used to be a bit of a bogey team for Notts, but they're a different team now they're in the National League. They're in decent form though, with wins over some of those harder-to-beat teams, so it's going to be interesting for sure. Personally, I would just keep the movement patient and use Nemane's pace to scare their defence into making mistakes. Control the centre of the park, allow Palmer to choose the tempo as and when it's needed to be changed and Langstaff/Scott should do the rest. Rodrigues also can return now correct? Being at full strength could be another blessing for us.

I didn't get to watch the game, other things came up, but I caught the goals. Langstaff's works his magic for the first goal, I thought theirs was a bit easy. It sounded like they had thrown everything at Notts and put the pressure full on. The amount of bodies, I'm not sure if it could've been dealt with better [other than beating their man]. Chicksen is surreal, different class under Williams. What a vital and convincing win! I'm looking forward to seeing their red card.

50/50 in regard to looking forward to this because there's so many excuses and reasons for people to become disgruntled about it. I do feel Chesterfield went out of their way to postpone the original game, although that's happened now. Nothing will change that. The suspension of Ruben will be a loss, however it will give someone else the chance to come in, and really we should be okay. The fixture has the ability to be a high point, where we reflect on the promotion chase in future years. Or, it could become the reason why fans feel things started to become unglued. Personally, I think we'll be fine. Allow Jim O'Brien to come in for Ruben or perhaps let Jodi Jones play in the role - he did it for Coventry quite well in the past. Key thing is to take the approach of any regular game, forget that it's a derby day - this just leads to nerves in my opinion.

Bostock's pass was really clumsy and poor for a player of his quality. He's quick to realise and chases after the ball, but at some point his brain tells him to drift away rather than to press more by running more into the channel. Cameron and Chicksen couldn't react better to their bursts to defend, although that's easy for me to say without the adrenaline pumping. Cameron seems to be torn whether to support Bostock or make a move to cover the centre. At the point he commits, he really should try to stay natural to the ball positioning. Chicksen is just in a panic, fleeting back with quite some pace but unaware as to where others are around him. By the time their player receives the ball to pass, you can see we are only just starting to organise ourselves. I don't think the players prepare themselves for what looks like a floating cross into an area where we should have easily covered the ball. To be fair, seeing the highlights, the fault lies across the majority of the team. Starting with the weak pass by Bostock, to the unorganised defending. Slocombe is a little slow to respond to the balls bounce, but his decision to move late - only putting up his left knee sums up the lack of awareness. There's honestly not much he could've done, but a quicker response to play may have seen him cover it. Those in front really should do better, even having bodies behind the opposition player can prevent someone getting on goal. If we didn't have the occasional relapse, I would be worried but from a discussion point it was poor.

Google kept alerting me of goals, but the actual score was 1-2 to us. Until I knew the actual score, I wondered what the hell was going on. Good win for us, it's just a shame about the Wrexham result. It would've been nice had they lost or drawn at least.

Right from kick off Notts looked more up for the game, Halifax seemed happy to sit on the ball - they really didn't impress me. Jesse Debrah looked like a weak leak from the moment I saw him. Physical presence but not much football skill in him, we should've exploited him more, but we controlled the game well. I don't mind that the score was only 1-0, we had plenty of chances and their keeper did alright for someone who always wanted to catch the ball when going to ground. Yes, it would've been nice to test him more on target, especially from distance, but the way we moved will only build confidence with Notts. I thought Jodi Jones did okay when he came on, Adam Chicksen got himself into some great positions and crossed the ball very well. Macaulay Langstaff almost gave me a heart attack with his goal, as I have mentioned I thought he was going to miss or their defender make up for the terrible back pass. It wasn't the first one of those, but he made it count, even if he did take quite a lot of touches. It was a good game and result, I think some dwell on the way we won rather than how we played.

Yeah, this is one we need to avoid defeat. Ideally, we'll control the game and get a good result, but that is wishful thinking. It's going to be a lot harder than that. Two aspects of the players I would like to see are a] them fired up and b] awareness of the opposition. If we can use the midfield well, I am confident chances will come and at this point I really would like to see Langstaff get on the scoresheet. Then again, it doesn't matter who scores for us - I just want to see Langstaff's name pop-up. If defensively a solid performance can be put in, I'll be happy even if the outcome is a draw.

At the very start, Notts had a bit of a shaky start at the back. Gateshead had a perfectly good opportunity which I felt incredibly surprised that their player didn't even hit the target, instead snatching his shot wide across the goal. Seeing that, I thought to myself that we would need to be more careful and hoped that it was a sign of their finishing. I can't say they impressed me, their defence seemed woeful and clumsy. They used the pitch quite well, passing and creating space, but it always seemed like they had no clue what else to do - even when the basics was to pull a shot away. The only thing they did well with was being dirty, breaking up the play with needless tripping and putting bodies on certain players. I thought Nemane played quite well, I just wished his crosses were a little more polished, but he had a few efforts on goal. Their number 2, Tinkler punching Cameron and getting away with it royally p-d me off. Notts played quite well despite the groans and moans audible from some, they didn't let the tactics of Gateshead distract them and the patient play led to plenty of chances. I also thought Bostock looked a quality addition when he came on, although Francis did perfectly fine before. Yes, he did some rash things early on, but I think he's someone who will improve with more time - I also think he misses Doyle's mentoring. @menzinho One of the groundsman was probing areas for results throughout the build-up to kick off. It didn't look like anything worried him during any pitch inspection, but I did notice him returning to areas and breaking the ground up in some of the spots he probed. Notts has done generally well with this regard for quite a few seasons, so I never tend to worry about the pitch condition.

I think Notts are hoping to be in control of the game more by holding the ball in midfield, but it's games like this when you realise that defensively we need to be better. Great victory, vital 3 points but after going up 3-1. We need to learn to close games down and avoid needing to chase a winner. Langstaff is an incredible asset to us.

Usually, when Notts goes one down - that 'here we go' feeling starts to sink in. I don't think I have had it so far this campaign, I felt Notts would get back into the game if they created chances. It seems we certainly took them! The 4-1 result was probably flattering for us, but the goals were all very well taken. Jim O'Brien getting on the scoresheet is nice to see, hopefully, he can continue to prove the doubters wrong that he's past it. Just like the here we go feeling, I never doubted Jim.

I wasn't impressed with Wrexham. They started well and made use of our high press, with an early chance that could've easily turned the game in their favour. Despite all their money spent, they still struggle with finishing, which bemused me slightly. Mullin actually seemed quite pacey for such a lanky presence. Notts grew into the game I felt and, I actually predicted the result. I wished in hindsight I said to the lads that Langstaff would score, but I did feel it would be someone else. Mostly due to the belief that Wrexham would make our key players heavily, but again they failed to deceive. We could've easily scored more with the chances created, whilst their only real opportunity fell early in the first half. Parkinson's comments about them deserving a draw at the very least is the typical talk a losing manager with high expectations says. In truth, they deserved nothing and all the talk about understanding how we play, it only looked like they did at times and those where very few between.

I actually did find the first half difficult to watch, Notts looked like a team that was going through the motions. Rushing creativity, losing ground and pressuring ourselves. Simply put, Notts made it very easy for Chesterfield to begin with. There was little to no service up front and, I honestly don't recall testing Fitzsimons in the first 45 minutes. Did we actually have any attempts on goal? Chesterfield's gain was our own undoing, the defending leading to the goal was extremely poor and for someone who I personally feel should be played out wide. Richard Brindley deserves credit for his efforts; it's a shame his work went unnoticed by those around him. As his block/defending didn't match those who could've dealt with the building threat better. The harsh view I feel, is blaming Slocombe for it. He had no chance, his commands of 'away' was being ignored. What I don't understand is why we can't just boot the ball away when in these situations, not that I believe playing out from the back is the issue. It's more the inability to absorb pressure when it builds to easy chances. Playing out from the back is important, as it does calm things down and space does emerge, but we need to exploit this opening better. At times, I feel we just need to clear the ball as far away as possible, re-group and stay alert. If their opening goal had been a wonder strike, it wouldn't be as annoying but the fact Chesterfield kept pushing for the opener whilst we were defending like blind mice. None of our attacks in the first 45 minutes seemed likely to trouble their defence, does this mean the booing was deserved? Not at all, I find that poor support. Yet Notts was dire in the first half, with no actual solid purpose or directives. Austin and Scott coming on made a huge difference. Credit to Mitchell I thought he actually did okay, but he just doesn't seem to be a natural goal threat. I thought some key players had been quite poor, Rodrigues for one who continues to fall quite short. His engine never seems to get going, plus his greediness is quite annoying when he's simply not doing well. Great comeback and, I do feel the timing was good as Chesterfield couldn't handle us, but this needs to be more than just 30 minutes. If the pressure had been applied, a win could've been the final result. I do believe we had enough chances in the second half but when Notts defends like we did at times - we will only occur problems rather than creating headaches for the opposition.

I felt a draw was highly likely, like Liam I felt Gateshead would be very eager to prove a point. Still, it's early days but defensively I do feel we could be a whole lot better.

It's a steady start, yes Notts could've won, but a draw isn't that bad. They're more used to this level of football than us, so I think a draw shouldn't be considered the worst outcome. It's still very early and, I personally believe our home form will be the major factor in keeping this season's hopes high. Not that we don't need to be picking up wins away from home, I just feel it's a starting point against a good team in this league. Two penalties for both sides, usually I think when this happens the referee is attempting to balance out mistakes, but I must reserve judgement for the highlights. Plus, Mitchell is on the scoresheet and equalled his tally last season! Perhaps, he might hit double figures and prove himself this time round? We can only hope.

The first half wasn't really the best and, despite the score line, it wasn't remotely a good team performance. It was acceptable, but defensively we need to be better, as I think better teams would've punished our poor passing and lack of defensive mindset early on. Maidenhead, although not a great side, did give us enough concerns early on as they pressed for a quick tempo. I think their travelling fans should be happy with their side's performance. Our goals came through pressure and good play, which is a promising sign as we worked the ball quite well at times. Second half we looked very lively, I wanted to see someone like Frank Vincent sit on the ball a bit. Yet Jim O'Brien did extremely well in my eyes, both defensively and assisting going forward. At times, he tracked back, won the ball and played us forward. I don't get why some fans moan about him starting because he brings experience and fire to the side. I wasn't a big fan of Joel Taylor on the right in the first half. He did quite a bit better in the second half, yet I think it highlighted that someone else there could do the job more comfortably. I actually wished Richard Brindley was given this role, as I do think he does well at times when he plays, but he's a lot more effective for us going forward. He's willing to cut in, run into space and go wide when the times are right. Taylor looked like he had been given the role of Jayden Richardson but needed to either gain confidence or just grown in the position. Perhaps he will get better as his deliveries are good, but I would be lying if I felt he wasn't better suited on the left. Good win, fantastic start for Macaulay Langstaff. It's early days, but I do feel a lot more confident that we'll continue to have the best start to any season for years.

I'm not sure what to expect about tomorrow with it being the first game of the season, but I still believe we'll start the season off strongly. In my mind, I think I know what my line-up would be. Luke Williams himself probably will, but I do expect him to make a few decisions which will surprise us. Provided we attack the game, don't allow them to put us under silly pressure - the game should be quite free flowing. What's the odds on a 4-0 opening day victory? Having asked that, I'd take a simple one nil to build on. It'll be nice just to be back at Meadow Lane. I must note that the first thing I do, once a manager leaves, is updating various automated parts of the site. I need to do the managers page. ????

It seems that our players who are transfer linked, aren't quite in the game to turn things around - we've been more consistent with Cal Roberts on the bench. I don't think the break in games has helped, although you would've hoped for more of a fight. I think it shows that we need to freshen things up from time to time, we can't expect to score when the players show no confidence on goal. Notts needs to look into the options out there, see if we can find a pacey finisher who can play alongside Kyle Wootton. Then again, Notts never makes anything easy but just at the point you feel we'll push on - we stumble. I don't think there's any need to panic, we're good enough for the playoffs.