Elite_pie

Just like with Sir Stanley, I keep trying to forget them but you've just spoiled it!

A bit frustrated and bored. I sailed through the first lockdown because the weather was great and I spent most of it in the garden and doing outdoor DIY. The latest lockdown has been a lot harder. I'm lucky because we have been allowed to form a support bubble to see the grandkids, but still missing family occasions where we can all get together. Also missing holidays, we usually do four or five a year. Regarding Notts I feel the same as most, watching a live stream is a pale imitation of being there, but I buy all the home games mainly as a way of supporting the club. Hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel and I'll be able to say hello to a few mates at Meadow Lane when we play Weymouth on May 22nd, and maybe I will be lucky enough to get a Wembley ticket if we can beat Hornchurch.

Thanks for posting that Piethagoram, that interview is amazing! Playing the victim like that is usually the domain of actors and pop stars. So Stanley Aborah thinks he was seen as 'the future' at Portsmouth and was about to be offered a 3 year deal in League One???? What planet is he on, he played one full game there and made 3 sub appearances! He is without doubt the most overrated player I've seen in 50 years of watching Notts. He was a gutless show pony with a few neat tricks, but his overall contribution to the team was minimal. Very few goals, very few assists, just a few fancy turns on the halfway line. He drifted into Irish football because that was more his level, and he couldn't even hack it there.

Good header, it's difficult to keep the pace on the ball and not head it over from crosses like that.

I agree with all of that, but I can see two barriers in the way of solving the problem. The first is Neal, the second is Ardley.

Again, great backing from the owners in difficult times. Don't let them down Mr Ardley.

I wonder if Ardley regrets not offering another year to Pierce Bird and Sam Osborne? Neither would be on big wages, and we could certainly use both at the moment.

Score prediction is Notts 1-1 Halifax. Enzio gives us the lead, but we are made to pay for protecting it rather than going for a second.

"Our magnificent, wonderful, incredible, fantastic NHS" were the words used by every single government minister for a year now. The were falling over themselves to praise the job done by NHS and care workers. No praise for what they did was too high. The praise was fully justified, because NHS staff in general, many of them on low wages, actually put their lives on the line (and sadly some of them paid the ultimate sacrifice) in fighting this pandemic. So what did this gushing praise and public handclapping mean in the end? It meant their reward for what they put themselves through is an offer of a 1% payrise. I have predicted this would happen many times, but now it has happened it still sickens me to the pit of my stomach. Clap them with cameras rolling outside 10 Downing Street for saving your life one minute, stick two fingers up and slap them in the face the next. Well done Boris, now you can concentrate on raising funds for your girlfriend's redecoration plans. Priorities or what?

I know this may come across as arrogant because we have no divine right to win just because we are a bigger club, but surely it's not asking a lot to beat King's Lynn at home. They are a club in deep crisis who couldn't even muster five substitutes, and one of the four they did name was a 50 year old retired goalkeeper. Ardley is moaning because we can't have seven! If we had dominated the game and the result was down to sheer bad luck I could take it, but if this had been a boxing match that went to a points decision there was only one winner, and it definitely wasn't us.

Fair point, saying that he underachieved last season is too harsh. On the subject of last season, until we had new owners my hopes were no higher than simply surviving as a club. Once the Reedtz brothers came in though, the backing they gave Ardley was excellent. We got ourselves into a great position, but the way we completely bottled it in the playoff final at Wembley still hurts. I would still class it as 'did as well as could be expected' rather than overachieving.

Slocombe 6 - A couple of decent saves, no chance with the goals Kelly-Evans 5.5 - Got forward a few times but not his best defensively Barnett 4.5 - Never looked at ease, disappointing Lacey 4.5 - Pulled all over the place, a game to forget Rawlinson 5 - Some way below his recent high standard Rodrigues 4 - Struggled to get involved, largely anonymous Doyle 5 - Passing was poor, nothing creative again Reeves 4 - Wasted a lot of possession, did nothing of note Boldewijn 5 - A couple of decent runs but no real threat Wootton 8.5* - Two good finishes, head and shoulders above the rest Knowles 5.5 - Tried hard but never got into scoring positions Subs - the less said the better Kyle Wootton is the only player who emerges from that mess with any credit. We were playing poorly and scraping wins, now we're playing poorly and dropping points. That was an awful, lifeless performance. We should be so much better than this. I know many are loathe to get rid of Ardley because we need stability, but one definition of stability is that nothing changes. Ardleys given us that - he underachieved from the start and he's still underachieving now.

Mention of Mick Waitt brings back a few memories, because he was once a team mate of mine. I think it was 1977/8 season in Division One of the Notts Sunday Morning league when I played for a team called Red Star. He was a gangly teenager back then, but he was already a class above that level. He only stayed one season, but I think he scored around 30 goals in 20 odd games. I know he went to Keyworth United, but when he signed for us I wasn't sure if it was the same bloke until I saw him in a Notts shirt.

I thought he looked promising until he went off, the own goal was just one of those cruel deflections. It seems the news regarding his injury might not be good news, but I would like to see a bit more of him.

I'm still in two minds over Elisha Sam. He's always looked capable of moments of magic, but he was truly awful in the first half against Oxford City.

The only other business I can remember with Salford is when Julian Jenner had a cup of tea there:

I know the FA Trophy isn't that popular on here, but there should now be 10,000 fans allowed in Wembley. They've still got last season's final to fit in, but forgetting that if they do the usual thing of combining the FA Trophy and FA Vase finals on the same day it could mean 3,000 each for Trophy finalists and 2,000 each for the Vase finalists. That is based on the rather hopeful assumption that tickets go to actual fans, so we should easily sellout whatever we're given.

Can't help with numbers, but here's a few comments from Chesterfield fans on the quality of the Notts live stream: "I personally thought the Notts stream was very good. Good commentary supplied by Radio Nottingham, very balanced and impartial, good replays of key moments". "That is definitely the best coverage and commentary team so far, although the Daggers commentary team ran them close. I loved the Iffy Effiong passage of play when Mark Stallard said ‘that wasn’t his proudest 10 seconds’". "If there was one criticism and its a minor one , its that they cut to another camera at times to early, but by far the best away stream this season".

It seems that from 17th May fans will be allowed back in football grounds. It will be limited to 10,000 or 25% of stadium capacity, whichever is smaller. That means we could get almost 5,000 for our final home game against Weymouth on May 22nd. Hopefully this is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I wonder if the Golden signing will have a silver lining?

Hard to be objective after such a dismal display, but here's my ratings: Pilling 4 - Looked dodgy throughout, their goal looked well within his reach, one great save at the death. DKE 5 - Usual effort, but passing and crossing was poor. Miller 5 - Got forward well, looks a bit suspect defensively. Lacey 5 - Never got to grips with their forwards. Rawlinson 5.5 - A difficult time at the back, at least he used the ball better than most. Doyle 4 - Sloppy passing, did nothing creative. Reeves 4 - See Doyle. Enzio 6.5* - The only attacking spark we had. Tried to give the forwards something to work with. Rodrigues 4 - Very poor. Too many wrong options and wasted every free kick we had in dangerous areas. Wootton 4.5 - Didn't get much in the way of service, but was poor with the crumbs he had. Sam 4 - A couple of decent runs but no end product. Knowles 4.5 - Tried, but nothing came off for him. Effiong 3 - Oh dear!

There is no doubting that we have an excellent defensive record, but at what cost? It's great not to concede because you can't lose, but the flip side is that if you don't score you can't win. Somewhere there is a balance between all out attack and dogged defence, and I think Ardley errs too much on the side of caution. I believe we have genuine attacking options if we give them the ball earlier in a bit more space. When the build up play is so slow, ponderous and predictable it means defenders have plenty of time to get back and mark. I think it has a very negative impact on the number of goals we score.

That was an awful performance. We were slightly better in the second half but created nothing, and their keeper didn't have a single save to make. I suppose the one consolation is that we only lost by a single goal, because a fair scoreline would have been 0-3.

It's really complicated at the moment with all the various permutations, but after their postponed game at Sutton I couldn't resist a sneaky peek at the 'if Dover's results are expunged' PPG table. If my maths are correct the top 7 would read: 1. Notts County 2.000 2. Torquay United 1.952 3. Sutton United 1.947 4. Hartlepool 1.714 5. Eastleigh 1.700 6. Stockport 1.65 7. Maidenhead 1.632

I didn't watch the live stream but from the reports I've read we didn't play well. However, it's just the result we wanted but strangely it could either be meaningless or absolutely vital. If the National League decide the season is voided it counts for nothing, but if Dover's results are expunged and the season is decided on PPG before the weekend we go up as champions. That's how weird things are!