Notts County v Walsall (3rd Feb)

I write this a day after the game itself to avoid any knee-jerk comments I may have made straight after a very frustrating game against a plucky and determined Walsall side.

Notts should have won this game by a long way and it was easy for anyone in the ground to see that Notts were clearly the side with the better quality players at their disposal. It was a game that may have reminded many fans of some games earlier in the season – Tranmere and Carlisle, as recently as eleven days before hand, in particular.

It would also have been easy for many people to assume this game would be three points in the bag for Notts against a side who, at the time of writing, are bottom of the table, albeit only on goal difference, and whom many expect will be condemned to playing League Two football next season.

Walsall started the game possibly as the livelier of the two, and could have gone ahead early on – Jason Price was put through on goal, but dragged his shot wide – but Notts soon settled into their stride and began to control the game after a scrappy opening ten minutes.

Many in the ground were hoping to see if relatively new loan signing David Martin could produce the same good performance that he produced against the riches of Manchester City on Sunday, in the league and, during the first half, he certainly showed some of the quality the fans were hoping he had, linking up well with the players around him as well as showing the ability to get down the wing and deliver a cross – even if the latter of these wasn’t done with consistent quality.

There was some good football being played by Notts, even if Walsall seemed to be getting the rub of the green with deflections inside and around their own penalty area. The good football did however, lead to the two best chances of the half – a ball across the box which fell to Lee Hughes eight or so yards out, who casually stroked the ball wide; a chance he really should have scored from, followed by Craig Westcarr forcing a good save from Walsall’s goalkeeper Jimmy Walker.

However, as the first half wore on, Notts began to resort to playing long balls up from the back towards Hughes and Westcarr – neither of whom are tall enough to win balls in the air against their opposing centre backs.

I was hoping that, during half time, Paul Ince would gather the players and tell them to get back to playing the football that created some good chances in the first half. If he did say this, his words of motivation were ineffective. Notts continued to go too long too early, which meant they weren’t able to carve out the same quality chances they did at points in the first half.

Finally the breakthrough did come though, an excellent glancing header by Lee Hughes after a near post corner from Martin. That’s two goals from corners, in two games for Notts – are we really missing Ben Davies? The feeling around the ground at the time was summed up well by my Dad sat next to me, who turned round and merely said, “About time.”

Hughes then went on to force Jimmy Walker into another fantastic save with a curling effort from just outside the area, before a goal that felt as surreal as Neal Bishop’s did on Sunday. Unfortunately, this time, the shock was not coupled with euphoria, but with disappointment, as sloppy defending allowed Alex Nicholls in for an equaliser with little time remaining. Whilst many will say that Stuart Nelson shouldn’t have been beaten at his near post, others will argue that Nicholls shouldn’t have been allowed the time and space to get the shot away.

It meant the result was as much of a disappointment as the performance; however credit where credit is due, Walsall didn’t lie down and allow us time and space – even after we had taken the lead.