Elite_pie

It's true we didn't deserve anything from the game , but I thought 3-0 flattered Coventry a bit. We were never under any sustained pressure, we just gifted them three easy goals. It's easy to pin the blame on Dan Jones, but we didn't defend well as a team. The worrying thing for me is that at this stage we look far more likely to concede goals than we do score them.

There were 1,727 Notts fans in attendance, a tremendous show of support given our uninspiring pre-season in terms of results and recruitment. While The Ricoh is undoubtedly an impressive stadium which would suffice in the Premiership, I can't say I'm a fan of it either. I'm a bit of a traditionalist and prefer the old school 'four stand' type of ground to these modern 'bowl' arenas. Add the fact that they don't sell tickets for the end behind the goal opposite us, it makes it hard to create any real atmosphere as well as looking a bit odd with a big empty stand. I must admit that this afternoon though it was preferable to an open terrace at Accrington when the huge thunderstorm that delayed kick off 10 minutes was at it's peak!

I'd agree that the ref and his assistants were very poor. The one thing in the ref's credit is that he wasn't card-happy, but he was regularly conned by Coventry players going down easily and actually assisted their time wasting tactics. A few times they kicked the ball away after a free kick was given against them, and the ref seemed to chatting to players rather than watching the game. They didn't affect the result, but their performances were on a par with our defenders!

I've just read that we've sold our full allocation of 1,500 tickets for Coventry tomorrow, which means they will open another section as pay on the day is also available. When you consider our pre-season hasn't been particularly inspirational, that's a fantastic show of support. Not only will we have more away fans than some club's total home attendances in this division, it also means around a third of our average home support will be making the journey, which not many clubs could manage.

My prediction for Nolan's starting XI is: Collin Tootle, Duffy, Brisley, Jones Milsom, Hewitt, Walker, Allessandra Grant Ameobi Very difficult for a score prediction this early, but I'll go for 1-1 with 1,225 Notts fans in attendance.

Stead is wearing the (quite stylish) training top in that vid. The actual home shirt is definitely striped.

A good read Joe, but two things make me doubt your judgement a bit - firstly you saw last season's away kit as "a nice, strong, bold colour (hot pink, not red!)". Wrong, very wrong - it was an awful colour in it's own right, but it's unforgivable borderline redness was just a step too far. Secondly you openly admit you once disliked Oasis, although you do redeem yourself by citing youth and stupidity as mitigating circumstances (I can only use the latter these days). I suppose there is a limit to what you can do with black and white stripes, and our 'outside the box' flirtations with chevrons, barcodes and pinstripes were all disasters, but I think the new one is a good effort. I'd have to see the faded back stripes 'in the cloth' to see if they work, but I'm quite tempted to add the (lifelong Notts fan) Jake Bugg logo and make a rare full price purchase.

Absolutely agree with with the "it's what matchdays are about" comment. I used the 'bring a friend' voucher to introduce my middle daughter's boyfriend to the delights of Meadow Lane, and he was amazed at the passion shown by both sets of fans. He is a Man U fan who has only been to a couple of games at Old Trafford, but I think he was one of those who previously thought that lower league football meant watered down support. He would be right numerically of course, but hopelessly wrong in terms of passion. I wonder how many of the prawn sandwich Premiership brigade would stick with their club if they have suffered how we have over the past 15 years?

I don't think it was a case of "letting" supporters on the pitch, you could see the cops didn't stand a chance of containing that many fans! Thankfully it was all good natured celebration but you can see the problem if it was done at a club where the home fans didn't like it and decided to join in. Your support yesterday was excellent both numerically and vocally, and I'm sure it's a day you'll remember for a long time. I was driving home 30 minutes after the final whistle and could still hear Pompey fans celebrating in the background while our players were being interviewed on local radio. I just hope you have another visit to Nottingham to plan next season even though it would be on the shabby side of the Trent!

The goals from today, which backs up my thoughts at the game - no need to lunge in for the penalty, great finish from Grant, Collin should have done better with their second, and would love to see a better angle for their third because he looks miles offside. http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/competitions/league-two/10841591/notts-county-1-3-portsmouth

The absence of Ameobi was a big blow, we know playing Stead as a lone striker doesn't work. I thought in team selection and formation we showed them too much respect and handed them the initiative from the start. On the plus side an excellent attendance and atmosphere, at least it gives us an idea of where we need to be to compete at the top end of the league.

Just happy to get to this stage of the season and be able to be fairly relaxed about the result, as I honestly thought these last few games would be real nail-biters. Looking forward to tomorrow, I'm using my 'bring a friend' voucher to try and tempt one of my daughter's boyfriends into wanting more, so an exciting game with a few goals would be ideal. As far as the line-up goes, maybe Milsom back in if he's fit at the expense of Hewitt or Campbell, otherwise leave it as it is. I'll go for a 2-2 draw.

Funny how people seem to see the game differently, that's why I like the player rating threads to see who agrees with me and who doesn't. I don't get the "Dickinson acted like he was a left back" comment - he was a left back! I thought he had a solid game and played his part in making sure Adam Collin had a fairly easy time. On to Adam Campbell, I think the one aspect of his game you can't knock is his effort. His poor first touch and his use of the ball means he's always going to struggle at League 2 level, but he covered a lot of ground today and closed down their midfield well. He just doesn't have the physical stature to impose himself on games, so I don't think we should retain him.

That's a game we would have comfortably lost in the first half of the season. It was a brilliant game to watch, not in the sense of free flowing football because there wasn't a lot of that, but it was riveting stuff and the crowd really got behind the 10 men, every tackle, challenge and block was enthusiastically applauded, even more so as the clock ticked down. Every player gave every last ounce of effort. I thought Nolan got the tactics spot on after the red card, dropping Ameobi to left midfield to replace Yeates seemed odd at the time, but we protected the defence well and still offered more attacking threat than they did. Great to see so many staying after the final whistle in all 3 stands to give the players the ovation they deserved - here it is for those who weren't there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZuLGLJ-SHA

A bit of good news for tomorrow is that Orient captain Liam Kelly has just been handed a six game FA ban for pushing a ball boy over in their win at Plymouth. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39011027

I'll pass on that one. When the stats suggested that Alex Rodman was vital to the team I threw my calculator in the bin!

Spot on, I suppose in the cold light of day all we did was beat Crawley at home, but it felt like so much more. I even smiled at the red traffic lights on the drive home instead of my usual cursing! It seemed like the ball was never going to break our way, and when Thompson saw red I thought "here we go again". The mix of elation and relief when the final whistle went was massive, you could feel it in all 3 home stands. I'm sure Kevin Nolan realises this is just a first step, and will be reminding the players that they have to maintain that standard until the season ends. If they do, we should be OK.

Bloody hell, is Sheridan back? Big Al kept that one quiet.

Apparently Alan Hardy has tweeted that a youth team player will feature tomorrow, though it seems unsure as to whether he will start or just be part of the squad. I can only think of Luther Wildin at right back who has looked ready to me, I seem to remember that Piethagoram rates him also.

Smith's team selection will be very interesting. Does he rate the likes of Aborah and Snijders, or will he go for the more battling types (if we have any!). This run of defeats has to end some time, but I am only hopeful rather than confident for Saturday. Remember, we couldn't even scrape a point there with Sol Campbell in the team!

Nearly right! Good to see so many taking up the offer, and nice to see the Sirrel stand packed with youngsters. I just hope that after 75 minutes of tedium an exciting last 15 minutes might be enough to persuade a few to return.

Pathetic defending throughout, but defending starts from the front. The amount of time and space their midfielders had to take a touch before looking up to pick a pass was a joke. As soon as our midfield got the ball they were snapping at our heels in a flash. Our defence looks crap, but they get very little help from the players in front of them. Last night was a carbon copy of so many home games in recent years - a team with no great talent but who are simply organised and hard working offer much more than we do.

I thought the officials were totally blameless yesterday. The game had to kick off at 3 pm because the pitch was perfectly playable. After 5 minutes puddles started to form, by 10 minutes these were getting worse and turning the game into a farce plus the added risk of injury due to mistimed tackles. Good idea to wait 10 minutes to get a weather update and see if things improved, but it was clear the rain was still coming down faster than it was soaking away. Blame the elements rather than the officials, I don't see what they could have done differently.

I've read that Audel won't be travelling with the squad due to a sickness bug. That might force us into playing a back four with Tootle at right back.

Unfortunately I can only see the home woes continuing, so 1-2 for me. We seem better suited to containing teams away than breaking them down at home. Like us, Orient are doing better away from home, I think they look a decent bet at 9/5.