Slocombe 6 No fault for the goals

Ellis 5.5 The best of the the back 3

Rawlinson 5 Dependable defensively

Turner 2.5 Sorry, missed with a free header and then concedes a stupid penalty.

Enzio 6.5 A wonder goal when we needed it, much better 2nd half in a more forward position

Barnett 4.5 Lost his man for their first goal. Disappointing ball in forward positions

Doyle 4 dawdled on edge of area. Tried too many deep balls

Reeves 4.5 On e deflected shot but not as influential

JOB 4 slowness of midfield personified with these 3

Wootton 5.5 Should have scored that winner but generally well marshalled. Good dummy for ruben

Effiong 4.5 if good work was Agana esque, out wide back to goal. No goal threat again

Subs

Knowles 5 Apart from that break and cross, close control let him down most of the game

DKE 5.5 more comfortable and effective as a RB

Ruben 6.5 Read the play well to score.

Subs

Slocombe - 6 - Ability to judge when to rush out and when to not is just bizarre. Why he came that far out in the second half, I will never  know. Good save from Reid, but maybe  should have come out? Difficult to see with angles of the camera. 

Rawlinson - 5.5 - He wasn't terrible, but they conceded 2 again.

Ellis - 5.5 - Not sure who was at fault in the first half when Reid ran through clean on goal. Either Turner or Ellis (I have an inkling it might have been the former).
 
Turner - 0 - Should never play for us again. How many points has he cost us this season, per game he's played? Even if he plays 'well', he's a mistake waiting to happen. The mistake of letting the player skin you is acceptable (even expected from a player like Turner), but then to bring him down when we had numbers back defending, is just stupidity. He's clumsy and incapable of making the right decisions after mistakes. Even worse than that, he doubles down on mistakes: lets the ball bounce - boot to the face - red card.  Lets the man skin him -pulls him down - penalty. A liability.

Barnett - 4 - Not great. Plenty of effort but not a great amount of quality I'm afraid. Whatever he thought he was doing on the half way line when he's the last man, somebody needs to give his head a shake. Improved after Turner went off.

Enzio - 7 - Looked again our most creative player from RWB. Goal is peak Enzio. 

Doyle - 3 - When he gets the ball down and he's on it, his passing is probably second to none in this league. However, that's neither often enough nor simply enough - the performances aren't acceptable and he is another one who makes too many costly mistakes. Have no idea why he is never rested or dropped.

Reeves - 6.5 - Been a critic of him recently, but improved today. Much more running beyond his own position, getting suck in and not afraid to have a pop. Still a lot of crabbing though.

O'Brien - 5 - Probably unlucky to be the one hooked. He wasn't great by any stretch, but he was better than Doyle for sure.

Wootton - 2 - Been terrible for weeks. Lethargic and second to everything. Should be finishing that chance at the end.

Effiong - 6.5 - Extremely harsh to hook him as he was playing well and when Wootton was so terrible. Ardley will say that Wootton is more suited to the ball being on the deck following our change in style, but at the minute Wootton isn't winning anything on the deck or otherwise. 

Knowles - 7 - Ball came to him in the box and he had an air shot, I thought 'here we go'. Turned things around though and got in behind Dickinson (as bad as I remember him being) for an assist or two. 

Rodrigues - 6.5 - Scored. Couple of other flashes of quality.
 

Introduce the prediction league this week, Yoda will. A go at the prediction league this week why not have. One joker each the matches kick off at 3pm on Saturday and you have. I wish you good luck! Hmm.

Preston North End v Luton Town

Millwall v Middlesbrough

Gillingham v Doncaster Rovers

Plymouth Argyle v Bristol Rovers

Cambridge United v Forest Green Rovers

Colchester United v Port Vale

Eastleigh v Halifax Town

Weymouth v Wealdstone

Slocombe 6.5  Well protected, a relatively easy afternoon but exudes confidence when necessary

Ellis 6.5 Missed a goal scoring chance but offers strength and positioning

Rawlinson 5.5 a slight dip in form but battles through. One playing too much football put Notts into trouble

Lacey 6 head in where it hurts

Barnett 7 Wonderful strike but can struggle defensively. Some crossing opportunities wasted

Enzio 6 Wing back showing responsibility for defensive duties

Reeves 7 One great strike and one assist, but littered with individual mistakes too

Doyle 5 some good some bad

JOB 5.5 Midfield with effort

Wootton 6 well marked

Effiong 5.5 plenty of running, still no real goal scoring threat

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

A Luton loanee

This has been a burning issue for a while now, not least on social media and in the match threads, so I thought it was time to open a thread for it. But whatever you think, stay respectful - we don't want any falling out

The question is the management of the first team, Neal Ardley and Greg Abbott. Are they still the men to take us back up? Looking at the table, anything is still possible. With our games in hand we can still catch everyone except Sutton, and it remains to be seen whether they'll go the distance. We have a bit of stability, the players know where they are with NA and seem to buy into his ideas. And, of course, he came within 90 minutes of taking us straight back up last season (although the less said about those 90 minutes, the better).

On the other hand, we haven't been performing for quite a while now, barely even create scoring chances any more. Despite a full summer's preparation and an extended pre-season, we seem to have gone backwards and NA doesn't seem to be getting the best out of the players any more. It's so frustrating. I like Neal Ardley. When you listen to some managers speak, you wonder what match they were watching. NA has never been like that - he doesn't publicly stick it to the players, but he does play a straight bat. He also has a clear idea of how he wants to play - to feet, playing it out from the back, with two experienced midfield generals pulling the strings. But that's his major blind spot, and could well cost us promotion and him his job - the Doyle-Reeves partnership is stifling us, yet he doesn't want to see it.

Personally I don't think the owners will pull the trigger during the season (unless we lose touch with the play-offs anyway), but they might well reconsider who they want in the hot seat if we fail again. What do you think?

Game 32 - The Wood (A)

Team: Boreham Wood

Date: 16/03/2021

Where: Meadow Park

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.

All about to change at............ Solihull Moors......... 

..... Will it be our turn next to have a change????????? 

I don't think I will end up winning, as certain players may not like my ratings 

Game 33 - The Glovers (H)

Team: Yeovil Town

Date: 20/03/2021

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.

Slocombe - 5.5 - Great tip onto the bar from a freekick. Tried to gift them a goal near the end. Averages out.

Enzio - 6 - Thought he was probably our most dangerous player and did a good job defensively.
Rawlinson - 5.5 - Didn't cope particularly well with strong strikers.
Ellis - 6 - Pick of the back 3.
Lacey - 5 - Needs to toughen up at times.
Miller -  6 - Scrapped and he wasn't terrible.

Reeves - 1 - Crap. He gets 1 for a good block. Too slow and always back and sideways.  Not good enough.
Doyle - 1 - So slow and cumbersome. Take a look at their second goal and look at Doyle. When runners get beyond our midfield, there's no way these pair will track them.
Rodrigues - 2 - Only gets a 2 because he was slightly better than the chuckle brothers.

Sam - 4 - Started off brightly, tried to put himself about but completely ineffective. He has a crap first touch so we decide to play into him in dangerous position, absolutely genius. Ardley slagging him off all game is an embarrassment, bet he didn't have the same harsh words for the muppets in the centre of the park.

Wootton - 3 - Didn't win anything.

Effiong - 6.5 - Came on and put himself about. Actually scored a penalty (!!).

Knowles - 4 - Rubbish as expected.

O'Brien - N/A


Ref was also terrible. Stream crap and assistant commentator (a player) was a complete muppet.


Overall - not good enough. Again. 

Sonny Carey

https://www.lynnnews.co.uk/sport/ex-norwich-city-academy-product-cant-wait-to-start-with-linnets-9075729/

Slocombe 5 - Didn't have much to do but did give me the panics when he didn't come for the ball when the defenders left it for him

Lacey 6 - Solid and got forward on occasions which was good to see

Ellis 7 - Excellent debut. Very good defensively and channeled his inner Jack O'Connell from Sheffield United, getting forward and supporting attacks which resulted in a goal

Rawlinson 6 - Solid as per

Kelly-Evans 6 - Strong in the tackle and was resilient. Was ok going forward despite the lack of end product

Doyle 6 - Not a great first half but was better in the second when he got further forward with O'Brien and won the ball. Assist

O'Brien 6 - Got forward numerous times and whilst he sometimes did give it away, he was willing to take risks and run with the ball

Miller 6 - Was always looking to support the attack but gave the ball away when he got into the final third. Should've scored late on

Boldewijn 6 - Received the ball quite a few times but didn't do much with it. Held it up ok

Wootton 6 - Should have done better with a chance in the first half when he didn't connect with it properly but battled away

Effiong 5 - Not a great first half by any means but improved after the break when he constantly pressed the Wealdstone defence

Sam 6 - Helped us close the game out and almost had an assist

i have only spoken to a few notts players, all have been very friendly but i am curious if anyone has met a footballer or ex player that has left you wishing you had not met them.

feel free to leave off their names if you wish, hints would be welcomed tho.  

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