Now that’s a bit more like it…
I won’t go as far as saying Pigeons 2 Magpies 0 is the result of the season so far, although one could be forgiven for praising it to the skies.
But it might be one of the most important for a while.
It’s fair to say we’ve had an awful week football wise. Bromley should have been the kick up the arse, but last Tuesday against Morecambe defied belief.
There aren’t (m)any SW19 midweek updates these days, but had I done one this week you would have learned some new swear words.
Whether that had any impact on today I don’t know**, but I refuse to believe it played no part whatsoever.
** – the two losses, not what I write on here. Though I do genuinely hope nobody at AFCW ever comes to this place.
I’m not going to be all smart-arse here and say that I knew we were going to win. But just as last week against Bromley had an odd vibe, the build-up to Notts County felt different.
It was as though we knew we had a point to prove. And three to gain.
As usual, 12h30 kickoffs have their own unique challenges, although to be fair to all concerned it didn’t feel like one.
And we did come out quite strongly. Putting the ball wide from a cross, that sort of thing.
That said, I did think County looked a bit bigger and stronger than us. Maybe not as much as it used to be with us, but still notable.
We’re made of sterner stuff these days thankfully. And even better, this time round we actually got the opening goal after good play.
Joe Lewis – the man with the new chant that I only just caught the back end of – jumped highest, directed it goalwards, and saw it hit the post and go in.
Although did Stevens really try and poke it in as it trickled through the crowd of players? Cheeky bastard, if so.
We needed a second goal, and to everyone’s collective amazement – for once we got one. A cracker from Smith, it has to be said, although his initial control clearly fooled the defenders.
Still, you can’t argue with a strike like that, and you can’t argue with us nabbing that second goal when we were doing well.
I’ll come onto County a little bit later, but to nobody’s surprise they came out in the second half firing.
While our attack seemed to be in slow motion, they saw a shot or two flash wide, and one has to wonder what would have happened if they scored.
Maybe it was the relatively warm weather, or the amount of games we’ve played this year, but we did look a little bit jaded.
Thankfully, Goodman wasn’t, as his late save which ricocheted off the crossbar summed up both their day and ours.
You don’t want to admit it at the time, but looking back afterwards – once he pulled that off, there was no way we’d be on the losing side.
We could have added a third, and Maycock (not Kelly as I originally thought) heading in would have been the icing on a very nice cake indeed, but the result was the most important thing today.
And it did feel like job done afterwards.
A solid victory, if not particularly spectacular, and if we’re to push for the playoffs (or indeed automatic promotion) we’ll need to win these sort of games.
I haven’t sat down and listened to JJ’s post-match comments, but one has to reckon he’s a lot happier than he has been the last couple of fixtures.
For him, it’s a vindication of his approach, and if he’s got to take the brickbats from the last two outcomes he’s entitled to the credit for this one.
We all know that this doesn’t matter now, that we simply have to follow this up against Cheltenham this Tuesday then Carlisle next week.
But if you can’t get any sort of enjoyment from this, you might as well support Franchise.
Anyway…
Plus points: We won. Won well. Good response. Clean sheet. Joe Lewis. Smith’s first ever strike for us (if you forget he scored against t’Stanley). Hutchinson at the back. Defending in packs.
Minus points: Should have got a third.
The referee’s a…: He let the game flow. And by that, I mean he didn’t seem keen on giving us too many free kicks.
Them: If they’re fellow promotion chasers, then I don’t think we’ve got a lot to worry about this season.
As said earlier, they were bigger and stronger than us to begin with, but we managed to eventually deal with that.
Their forward line is on a par with ours, and one senses they could be playing the moment you read this and they wouldn’t have found the net.
It was easy to forget Alex Bass is playing for them these days, and he got a little bit of stick. Though I don’t blame any player going for the money, especially a goalkeeper.
Would I have him ahead of Goodman? Earlier in the season I would have, but now I’m not nearly so sure.
Very good turnout from their fans, over 1200 I think, although they didn’t seem to be the loudest of away support.
Must have been a rubbish day for them, what with an early start, their team playing shite and worse of all for them, their patronising neighbours beating Citeh as well.
As a quick aside, your editor caught an ad on Sky Sports for the Netball Super League, and I noticed one of the new teams is… Nottingham Forest.
Imagine being one of their fans with a daughter, you find out the NSL has a new local team and it’s in the colours and name of the team across the Trent…
Point to ponder: Doesn’t today just make Morecambe last Tuesday feel even worse?
I can accept Bromley last week – these things happen, and they might still be a bit of a dark horse – but the game in Lancashire was unforgivable.
And I think the players knew what they were throwing away.
It proves that you can’t take your foot off any proverbial gas pedal, especially at this business end of the season, though you have to wonder what damage this week has done to our automatic promotion hopes.
In truth, it probably hasn’t damaged it too much, because everyone else seemed to lose on Tuesday as well, and the games at Doncaster and Walsall will decide things as much as anything.
Every team will have a blip at some point this season, and maybe – hopefully – we’ve had ours now.
And today’s results went for us. Walsall are proving that being top in March means jack shit. Bradford’s inevitable run to the title suddenly doesn’t look so nailed on after all, having lost to Gillingham.
The worst result has to be Doncaster, who let a two-goal lead slip to Swindon, and if we win our game in hand we leapfrog them.
So it proves that losing a game isn’t the end of the world, but you can make your life so much easier if you do.
I’m going to stick with my usual position of waiting until Easter before deciding what will happen to us (and everyone else). And it’s less of a cop-out but simply being wise.
Of course, there’s only one time to be third or higher in the table, and that’s the final whistle on the 3rd May…
Truth is stranger than fiction: 1) “We never score from corners” – the bloke next to me just before Lewis took the lead. Next, he’ll be saying that Pigott will never score for us again. 2) Couple of cop cars and one meat wagon on Durnsford Road after the game. Anyone know owt?
Anything else? You would think after a win like today, I’d immediately have something to put in this section.
Yet, oddly, I don’t.
I’ll put one thing down though – I’m going to be glad when we’ve got through the next two games and we have a normal run-in.
It’s obvious why we’ve had such a backlog, what with the weather, and somebody forgetting to design the Plough Lane drain system properly.
And I have to admit, my heart did sink a little bit afterwards when I remember we have to do all this again on Tuesday.
If a team needs a rest, it’s us. We laboured just a bit towards the end today, and you have the feeling we’ll have to dig deep again against Cheltenham.
I’ve mentioned previously about how Bugiel looks out of sorts, how Stevens is over-relied on, etc etc.
Right now though, I’ll take goals from anyone – as long as we get them.
Because this next few weeks are going to be the ultimate test of ignoring the performances and getting the three points.
Many good things came out of today’s game, but perhaps the most important is that we can win these sort of fixtures when we need to.
Had we lost against Notts County, our season could have legitimately slumped. And given the way we’ve performed thus far in 24/25, that would be a massive comedown…
So, was it worth it? Indeedy.
In a nutshell: More of the same, please.