It's prediction league time again - kick-off is Saturday at 3pm, you know what to do!

A  couple of you have told me that the reminders aren't working. I've no clue why, but maybe the migration messed up the following function. If you want to follow the prediction league forum, just click on this link and click the "Follow" button in the top right. If that doesn't work, the good news is that the remaining rounds are easy to remember - every Saturday up to 8 May, plus Easter Monday (5 April) and just one more midweek round on 20 April.

Middlesbrough v Stoke City

AFC Bournemouth v Barnsley

Blackpool v Fleetwood Town

Bristol Rovers v AFC Wimbledon

Carlisle United v Bradford City

Morecambe v Newport County

Aldershot v Altrincham

Yeovil Town v Woking

We beat them 3-0 at home in November. That was one of our best performances this season. 2-0 up inside 20 minutes. Wealdstone are 19th in the table. They consider an average of 2 goals per game.  They beat King's Lynn 3-1 at home in their last game. They lost to Torquay at home and drew with Sutton. They have had 3 7 goal thrillers at home so no one can describe them as boring. This is a game Notts should be winning but we are on a poor run of form. I think it will be a nail biter but Notts to prevail. 3-2 to Notts is my prediction. 

Saturdays opponents Wealdstone have new manager and assistant in place... They have been in charge for a while but now its official.....Just what we didn't want...... 

As expected, we've dipped into the transfer market to sign two loanees - centre back Mark Ellis and right back Kenton Richardson - and one permanent signing, Lewis Knight from Bradford Park Avenue.

We definitely needed cover at centre back, and Richardson's signing indicates that Golden's injury will be longer term. But the Knight signing is most interesting of all - a young, up-and-coming and mobile striker who is already in double figures for the season, so a welcome change from the thirtysomethings we tend to rely on. Hopefully he has what it takes to make the step up (and gets the service he needs).

845k views so far

Game 30 - The Shaymen (H)

Team: FC Halifax Town

Date: 09/03/2021

Where: Meadow Lane

What line-up should Neal Ardley opt for? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

With the relentless fixture schedule, it's time to dig out those worn-out crystal balls again. These matches all kick of at 7.00 pm (not 7.45), and remember your jokers!

Peterborough United v Hull City

Rochdale v Shrewsbury Town

Plymouth Argyle v Wigan Athletic

Crawley Town v Salford City

Leyton Orient v Stevenage

Port Vale v Oldham Athletic

Dagenham & Redbridge v Maidenhead United

Solihull Moors v Stockport County

Slocombe - 4 - Think he could've done better with their 2nd goal. Otherwise fine.

Whoever that RB was - 0 - Absolutely terrible. Every time we sign yet another fullback, they seem to be worse than the one they are replacing. Ardley is wasting the owner's money with these loan signings.

Rawlinson - 6 - Only player with consistency. 
Lacey - 3 - He wasn't great.
Barnett - 0 - Not fit to wear the shirt. Embarrassingly poor footballer.

Enzio - 4 - Wonder goal.
Doyle - 0 - Gives the ball away. Too slow in distribution, too slow in chasing their players down.

Reeves - 0 - Slows everything down to a snail pace. Absolute crab that goes either sideways or back. Kills off so many attacks by being so slow and negative. Needed time off weeks ago, but we've got nobody else. Summed himself up when it was the last chance to get the ball in the box and he slowed the play down and played the ball back to Lacey, just as the ref blew the final whistle. Clown.

Rodrigues - 1 - Rubbish. Looked a dive for the penalty. 

Wootton - 4 - Didn't do a lot wrong, but couldn't do much right with the oxygen thieves he shared the pitch with. 
Knowles - 0 - Did he win anything? Can't do simple things right, can only run in behind. Send him back.
Sam - 3 - Was better than Knowles. Even with the **** penalty.

Ardley - 0 - 0 for tactics. 0 for motivational skills. 0 for signings. I don't know how much longer I'd be willing to give him, if at all.


I won't be tuning in on Saturday. 



 

Roll up for more prediction-related fun - Saturday 3pm is the deadline, you have a joker each. Good luck!

Bristol City v QPR

Millwall v Blackburn Rovers

Oxford United v Charlton Athletic

Shrewsbury Town v Fleetwood Town

Bradford City v Bolton Wanderers

Stevenage v Harrogate Town

Chesterfield v Yeovil Town

Torquay United v Hartlepool United

Elisa Sam and even Jimmy Knowles seem to have been written off way too early, both offer something different but I can see Sam becoming a powerhouse for us. He looks match fit now, something which has made a difference with his performances on the pitch.

A few more goals from him and I would like to see him start more often with Kyle Wootton.

Thoughts?

If Kyle Wootton gets injured, that could kill our season. 

The reason for this article is with alot of games coming thick and fast the chance of our main goalscorer scorer getting injured becomes inevitable and looking at the options and facts it's quite worrying.

He has 12 league goals the next highest is 3.

Jimmy Knowles - great player but needs someone to play off - can Effiong/Sam do this in the league? 

Eli Sam - mixed bag - some games pass him by other games he's a handful capable of magic. Reliability the question mark here? 

Inih Effiong - so far not delivering much of anything at the moment. Somewhere in there is a good player unfortunately for Notts that player hasn't turned up in a notts shirt yet. 

Tyreace Palmer - young, untried, lightweight, hungry to make a name for himself but lack of any first team experience. 

So should Wootton get injured who do you choose to go up front and why? Is it a partnership or lone striker?

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/2021/february/golden-signs-220221/

Slocombe - 7 - Good saves.

DKE - 4.5 - Not one of his crosses caused any problems and that's not only this game.
Rawlinson - 3 - Looked knackered.
Lacey - 3 - Tired
Barnett - 2.5 - Turned inside out, positioning all over the place. Shambles of a performance. Got an assist.

Enzio - 4.5 - Doesn't offer a lot. Slows things down too much.
Reeves - 5 - Was OK.
Doyle - 5 - Overrun
Rodrigues - 4.5 - Not great. Nothing he tried came off.

Knowles - 7 - Positive and gives us width. Always takes risks when his teammates rarely do.
Wootton - 8 - Great double header. Held the ball up well.

Effiong - 0 - Absolute donkey. Why does Ardley keep bringing him on in these situations? He offers nothing apart from giving away needless fouls. 

Ardley - 1 - It's absolute gash and has been for weeks. Trying to hang on to a lucky 2-1 win against Kings Lynn from about the 60th minute - absolutely embarrassing. Let's make no bones about it, these performances are not good enough and the tactics are negative. He will come out no doubt and say his players are knackered and they've played a lot of football etc.... bore off. All teams are in the same boat and I doubt many have the squad size we have. Lots of quantity, **** all quality. 

 

The proof is in the pudding - and in this case, the pudding is a football. In that vein, the proof would be your predictions for these fixtures. These matches all kick off at 7pm on Tuesday, so that's the deadline, and don't forget your jokers. Good luck!

Huddersfield Town v Birmingham City

Millwall v Preston North End

Burton Albion v Bristol Rovers

Doncaster Rovers v Portsmouth

Tranmere Rovers v Newport County

Bradford City v Mansfield Town

Solihull Moors v Dagenham & Redbridge

Altrincham v Woking

Assuming King's Lynn actually turn up.......that's a cheap shot, but they deserve it.........

KL were a bit unlucky to lose to Notts at home and they have responded well with a win and a draw in their last 2. They hammered Barnet 5-1, but Barnet are a shambles so make of that what you will and drew 2-2 at home to Weymouth. KL have nothing to play for. They may not even finish the season. It's bizarre to say the least. It looks they are making an effort so Notts won't walk all over them I'd imagine. I think it will be a high scoring game as KL are throwing caution to the wind based on their last 2 performances. 4-2 to Notts is my prediction. 

Standing between us and a second Wembley appearance in a year are Hornchurch FC from the Isthmian League. The current club is actually a phoenix club, having reformed as AFC Hornchurch in 2005. Neither incarnation has ever played at Wembley, nor do they appear to have crossed paths with Notts before.

I don't think anyone can deny we're the favourites here, as they're the lowest-ranking club left in the competition. They also have the added disadvantage that their season has been stopped, so they'll be a little ring-rusty by the time the semi-final comes around - although that didn't stop them knocking King's Lynn, Maidstone and Darlo out. But let's not start the talk about Wembley and possible ticket allocations yet - they'll still make it difficult for us and will have nothing to lose.

Here are their goals from their quarter-final win over Darlington:

The votes are in, and while the NLN and NLS have voted to void their season, most NL clubs voted to carry on. So carry on we will, at least for the time being.

Dark clouds are looming though. Dover have already taken their ball home with them and declared that they're not going to play any more games. I have the feeling that a clutch of other clubs are waiting to see how the National League deals with them before acting. King's Lynn have only committed to playing until the end of February. The NL have the right to turf Dover out for refusing to play. If they don't, there's no incentive for half the clubs in the league to carry on, what with there being no relegation and no punishment. If several clubs are allowed to mothball their season, it could make the season difficult to finish and would dramatically alter the table.

With no fans and no relegation, some clubs could also field a youth team. It could render some games a farce.

We live in chaotic times...

Happy Birthday @super_ram

I hope you have a great day

Can you wish him a happy birthday.

Former Notts loanee Glenn Roeder has died at the age of just 65. Older fans will remember him as a loanee from QPR at the tail end of our stint in the top flight in the 80s, when he had a dramatic impact and gave us hope of staying up. Jack Dunnett baulked at the transfer fee of 150k, and pledged to pay 75k if the fans donated the other half, giving rise to the infamous Glenn Roeder fund. We didn't sign him, and he ended up joining Newcastle for a successful stint instead while we suffered consecutive relegations. He also had a successful spell as West Ham manager, and was a coach for the England team.

Condolences to everyone close to him.

In a surprising development, we're holding a prediction league round this weekend. Kick-off is 3pm on Saturday, you know what to do. Good luck!

Preston North End v Huddersfield Town

Luton Town v Sheffield Wednesday

Charlton Athletic v Blackpool

Swindon Town v Northampton Town

Walsall v Bradford City

Carlisle United v Oldham Athletic

Bromley v Altrincham

Stockport County v Chesterfield

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Elechi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Roberts_(footballer,_born_1996)

Slocombe,  6.5 calm assured, could do noting with the deflected goal

Golden 5 Some good, some bad

Rawlinson 6.5 Limited goal scoring threats

Lacey 6 One loose ball but a steady Eddie type performance

Chicksen 4 ( can't credit an assist as the ball was behind Sam), Slater's commentary littered too many times Chicksen has lost the ball... One good defensive challenge though

Wolfe 5.5 Least said about the 1st half, much better in the 2nd

JOB 5.5 One lapse which could have been punished severely but wasnt. Experience head when needed

Miller 6.5 Found some space and did look good on the ball

Knowles 6.5 a better player certainly in the making

Sam  (3) for a woeful 1st half but an overall 7.5 for hitting the target and a wonder goal MotM

Palmer 3  missed a great chance otherwise anonymous

We were missing a topic on this, so I've made one. Our fixture list changes every five minutes, so cut us some slack

So tomorrow we meet Oxford City again. Our last (and only?) meeting with them was an FA Cup 2nd round match in 2017, when we squeaked through 3-2 thanks to a Jorge Grant goal in stoppage time. One man who impressed that day was Oxford defender Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, who later joined Notts on the strength of his performance (and what a great idea that was). The Hoops were fourth in the National League South and were on a fine run when the season was voided. With 35 goals from 17 games they also know where the net is, so it shouldn't be a walkover.

Many of us have been critical about the decision to carry on with the FA Trophy given The Situation, but this is an opportunity for the team to get its mojo back with no league points at stake. We're now also just two wins away from a possible Wembley final in front of actual fans...

Thoughts?