Swann hails bowling dream team

ALL rounder Graeme Swann hopes that the depth of the Notts bowling attack will help the quest to mount a serious challenge for honours this season.

Notts have emerged as the early season pace-setters in division one of the LV County Championship and the midlands group of the Friends Provident Trophy with plaudits being heaped on the bowlers who have found wickets easy to come by so far this term.

Veteran all-rounder Mark Ealham took 4-39 in Sunday’s win over Ireland after Darren Pattinson had announced his arrival with 5-22 in the first innings of last week’s win over Kent.

Swann took 1-32 in Dublin before hitting 21 from 18 balls and was quick to praise his team mates.

“This would be a dream team if Siddy and Broady weren’t in the England squad and with Mark Ealham, Charlie Shreck and Darren Pattinson we are a bit spoilt so hopefully we’ll be smiling at the end of September,” said Swann.

“Having Chris Read in the side is so much to our benefit because he is a truly fantastic cricketer.

“He gets the runs and leads the troops well and the country’s loss is definitely our gain.

“I was quite happy with my batting at a time when we needed to add impetus to the innings and get a decent total on the board.”

Swann batted at number seven but is keen to move up the order for the Outlaws as he presses for a place in England’s one day squad.

“I think I’m viewed as an opener in Twenty20 and 40 over cricket and I will grab any chance I get to open up with both hands,” he said.

“Everything went well for me in Sri Lanka but it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be in the team for the tests in New Zealand but I’m looking forward to the ODI’s starting so that I can have another go at the Kiwis.”

Fans get green light to return to Kop

KOP-happy Notts County fans have had their wishes granted because they've been given the green light to turn that area of Meadow Lane into their own fortress next season.

County Chairman John Armstrong-Holmes confirmed today in announcing season-ticket prices for 2008-09 that The Kop will officially become home territory.

And the season-ticket deal for The Kop offers adults the chance to watch all League games for the equivalent of just £10.87 per match.

Said the Chairman: "Call it coincidence if you like but there's no doubt in my mind that the crucial wins we recorded against Accrington and Wycombe were significantly influenced by the support from The Kop.

"There are still a few issues to address with us taking over that area on a permanent basis but I'm sure there will be no objections from the Police and Nottingham City Council, our ground safety authority.

"The key thing is for us to make the necessary arrangements for 'housing' visiting fans in the Jimmy Sirrel Stand and we are complying with everything that has been asked of us."

General season-ticket prices are increasing slightly for the first time in five years but under-12s will have free admission in all areas of the ground and under-16s also go free in the new Haydn Green Family Stand.

The Family Stand is being renamed as a lasting legacy to the man to came to County's rescue when they were in administration, pumping in £3million to keep the club in business.

Added the chairman: "Haydn Green's part in the history of Notts County needs to be recognised and we believe that renaming the stand will do that.

"It's especially fitting that it should be the Family Stand, where we can offer free admission to under-16s. It was always high on Haydn's agenda to encourage young people to enjoy football, and this is our way of supporting his beliefs for the future of Notts County."
Season-tickets go on sale at Meadow Lane on Tuesday May 6 and Early Purchase Discounts will apply until Saturday May 31.

Now we've got the steel

CHRIS Cohen is certain Nottingham Forest would already be promoted to the Championship if they’d showed their recent steely character in more games earlier this season.

The Reds enter the season finale at home to Yeovil Town in third place with a chance of gaining automatic promotion back to the second tier if they win and Doncaster fail to pick up three points at Cheltenham.

And their ever increasing confidence from five wind and a draw in the last six games he feels can only give them every chance of getting over the finishing line, even if it does mean doing it the hard way through the play-offs.

He said: “The way we’ve ground out results recently, if we could have done that a few times earlier in the season then we’d have probably had automatic promotion wrapped up along with Swansea.”

“We’ve had a lot of games where we’ve played well and didn’t take the points and even though you come away saying we played well today we deserved three points, there’s no use saying that because we haven’t done it and in the last few weeks we’ve shown a lot more steeliness and character especially away from home.”

“We know we’re capable of scoring at any time we’ve just got to make sure we keep it solid at the back and go up the other end and try and put a couple of chances away.”

“We haven’t got a massive squad a lot of players have played a lot of games so the perfect scenario would be go up and be able to rest up for a long as we can before we go into the league above.”

The 21-yearold also highlighted automatic promotion would be ideal-if only to give the club the best possible chance time wise to compete in the Championship.

He added: “You look at Derby and the way that they’ve struggled and it was maybe a surprise for them to win the play-off final so they probably hadn’t prepared to be in the Premiership and that showed this year with the way that it’s gone for them.

“Even Blackpool in the Championship have struggled and only just got safe and again they only had a month to prepare and get players in.”

Delight for Charlie

CHARLIE McParland expressed his delight at seeing Notts County confirm their football league status for next year after their 1-0 win over Wycombe.

Richard Butcher’s solo goal was enough to confirm the three points that guaranteed Notts’ League Two safety.

And the 46-year-old couldn’t hide just how relieved he was the fans and the club as a whole.

He said: “I’m so pleased for the fans because it’s been a hard season for them.”

“It’s been a hard season for me and also the players as well, but the main thing is Notts County will be playing in the football league next season.”
“I am just a little disappointed that we didn’t secure our future a few weeks ago but for different reasons we didn’t manage to do it.”

Ealham on form

MARK Ealham carried on his excellent early season form with four wickets in the 56 run win over Ireland in Dublin.

The 36-year-old all rounder scored an impressive century in Notts impressive 10 wicket win at Kent last week to kick start the club’s Liverpool Victoria Championship campaign.

And he supplied a top performance with the ball with an cutting spell of 4 for 39 from 10 overs in the Friends Provident Trophy as he tore through the Irish order to seal Notts first win in the competition.
Adam Voges top scored with 60 as the visitors posted 217-9. Ealham’s efforts however and a wicket apiece for Sidebottom, Shreck, Broad, patel and Swann saw Ireland all out for just 161.

Hoodoo banished!

NOTTINGHAM Rugby ended the season on a high last weekend banishing their Coventry hoodoo and coming away with 5 points that so nearly brought them a runners up finish.

Exeter Chiefs and Nottingham went into the final weekend of the season on 111 points. Exeter knew that a bonus point win for them at Doncaster would clinch the runners up spot but it took a try in the 11th minute of injury time to seal it for them, as both teams ended the season on 116 points but the Chiefs runners up by virtue of having won one more game.

This did little to take away from what has been a fantastic season for us and to finish 3rd in National Division One is a great achievement. A tight game at Coventry, a place where Nottingham had not won in the fours years they have been back in the division, was not a classical end to the season but it was a case of job done but sadly it wasn’t quite enough.

Following the game on Saturday we celebrated the season in style with their Annual Ball and Awards ceremony which was this year held at the Colwick Hall Hotel. Over 350 people enjoyed a fun filled evening hosted by Trent FM’s Jo and Twiggy and following the awards danced the night away to Roy De Wired. Those still keen to continue celebrating then made their way to Alea, who sponsored this year’s event, for the after party.

With such a small squad every member played a huge part throughout the year. I feel very fortunate to have won a couple of awards but even more fortunate to have been a part of this team, we have great players but we are also great mates and that makes such a difference.

The Awards this year went to:

Young Player of the Year – Charlie Hayter
Supporters Player of the Year – Luke Sherriff
Try of the Year – Luke Sherriff
Players’ Player of the Year – Tim Molenaar
Player of the Year – Craig Hammond

The players will now have a well earned rest and come back for training mid June when all eyes will be focussed on an even better 2008/9 season. Thank you for all of your support throughout the year and we hope to see you next year.

Tenacious C

THE dictionary definition of tenacious: dogged; persistent; rententive; adhesive- all qualities Colin Calderwood has arguably failed to consistently drum into his Nottingham Forest side over a 22 month period.

But whilst the impending League One play-offs are set to decide his fate as Forest boss, a timely corner may now have been turned regarding his and the side’s tenacity to grind out results and succeed in the end of season showdown.

The 2-0 scalp at Tranmere and the 1-0 win over Luton signalled a Forest side far from at their best but still managing to grab three points-a habit they have yet to master since entering League One.

With automatic promotion now a surprising possibility entering the last two games, making the most of two below par showings could be a mentality that could be all important in the outcome of the Reds season.

And Calderwood admitted the style of the win at Tranmere could be a turning point in turning average performances into winning ones.

He said: “At Tranmere we scored with our first chance in the game and that made a world of difference in everyone’s perception of the performance because not that we didn’t come out in the first 30 minutes but we were second best in a lot of areas and were held together by the two centre halves and the goalkeeper on a lot of occasions.”

“The rest of team then got to grips with the game and played really well form there on in.”

“I was hoping Doncaster was going to be like that. Get absolutely battered and then score with Lewis’(McGugan) chance and you run away with the points.”

“But that is predominantly how I remember a lot of away games when I played and we haven’t had that too often this season but the rest of the game we were dominant and absorbed the early pressure which bodes well.”

He also indicated there was little fear factor in the side despite the disappointment of the play-offs last season.

He added: “The fear factor comes with success and the chance of the success and the team don’t look at the point of view of failure which is a great mindset to have.”

Hales hits century for Second XI

Alex Hales hit 110 from 110 balls as the Notts Second XI warmed up for the new season with a two day friendly against Loughborough University.

Each side spent a day batting in an otherwise unstructured format that saw Notts reach 305/7 from 89 overs and Loughborough 294/8 off 86 overs.

Rob Ferley (51) and 15 year old Sam Wood (50) also did well with the bat whilst AJ Harris (2/44) and Andy Carter (3/19) were the pick of the bowlers.“It was the first time that I had seen Sam Wood play outdoors and he looked very confident and accomplished and Alex got the hundred that I wanted,” said Second XI Coach Wayne Noon.

“Rob Ferley batted with Sam and helped him through and the experienced players know that they can play their way into Mick Newell’s plans by performing well for the Second XI.”

Harris bowled 17 overs and looked to have overcome the nerve injury that has hampered him recently whilst Gareth Clough enjoyed two spells with the ball as he recovers from a shin problem.

Noon hopes to arrange a one day fixture for the Second XI next week ahead of their Championship opener against Yorkshire at Stamford Bridge on May 7.

Notts trio named in England squad

The England and Wales Cricket Board today announced a 26-man England Performance Squad for this summer’s international season that includes Notts players Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad and Ryan Sidebottom.

The EPS, which has been chosen by the England selectors, consists of 12 players currently on 12-month ECB contracts, which includes Sidebottom, plus 14 non-contracted players.

It includes three players who are uncapped at international level; Michael Carberry, Adil Rashid and James Tredwell together with the Kent opening batsman Robert Key, who last played for England on the tour of South Africa in 2004-05.

Ring in the changes

Colin Calderwood has signalled he may rest players in Nottingham Forest’s final three league games to maximise the team’s condition during the playoffs.

The Scotsman indicated one or two changes may be made in the starting line-up for Forest’s home game against already relegated Luton Town tomorrow.

Despite an uninterrupted week of training following the 2-0 win over Tranmere, Calderwood still feels it is the right time to rest players who may have clocked up a number of appearances in recent months.

He said: “We’ve got good honest competition for places and problems to be had when it comes to select the team.”

“We look at the number of games one or two have played and certainly recently there might be a case of resting but all it will do is blend in one or two who haven’t played so much.”

“But we’ve got a fairly tight squad really and the majority have played some part recently so it's just a case of maintenance through this bit.”

“We also need a little bit of focus on what we’re about and what we can do to get a little bit better and also what we must do to be as tight as we can at the back.”

"We want to go and try and play with a bit of buoyancy and go and express ourselves, we’ve got absolutely nothing to worry about at all so we just go and try and play with as much freedom as possible."

Hussey pays to play IPL

Nottinghamshire have given David Hussey clearance to play in the Indian Premier League after agreeing a compensation payment with the Australian.

The 30-year-old batsman signed a new two-year contract at Trent Bridge at the end of 2007 but was then reported to have signed to play in the Indian Premier League which runs over the start of the domestic county season.

Notts Director of Cricket Mick Newell said: “We’re pleased we have reached an agreement over compensation with David.

“He has made a valuable contribution to us over the last four years and I’m sure he will continue to do so.

“As soon as we learned of his link with the IPL we moved to find another overseas player and Adam Voges is an excellent replacement.”

Voges will cover for Hussey whenever the Victorian is unavailable, including the IPL campaign and Australia’s tour of the West Indies, following Hussey’s call-up to the One-Day International squad.

Hussey made his Twenty20 international debut this winter and was awarded a central contract by Cricket Australia last week.

“There’s no doubt that I love playing for Notts and am again really looking forward to joining up with everyone in July,” said Hussey who will play for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.

“The past few months have been amazing with so much going on and I’m really grateful to all at Notts for letting me play in the IPL but rest assured come July I will be doing my best for everyone on and off the field at Trent Bridge.

“I know Adam will go well and hope the boys keep up the good start.”

Added Newell: “We are very pleased that David has got a central contract as he’s been an extremely consistent performer for us.

“We are looking forward to him returning to Nottingham in early July after Australia complete their tour of the Caribbean but I’m sure Voges will fill his shoes very capably in the meantime.”

'Under no illusions'

Charlie McParland says he was “under no illusions” of the fight Notts County had to face when he took the Meadow lane hotseat.

The 46-year-old helped steer Notts five points clear of the League Two dropzone with a critical 1-0 win over Accrington Stanley but he has made no secret of the task he was up against when he took the job last October.

He said: “I knew it was going to be a fight all the way when I came in and had a look at this football club and everything about it.”

“Maybe not as bad as what it is but I was under no illusions that after two or three weeks and assessed everything I knew it was going to be a right fight.

“But we can go and stay in this division, there’s enough in there to stay here, they just have to realise that and get out there, stick their chests out and go and get the job done.”

Three debutants in Championship opener

Director of cricket Mick Newell will hand Notts debuts to three players when the County Championship begins at Kent on Wednesday.

Matt Wood and Will Jefferson will form a new opening partnership and overseas player Adam Voges is named at number four in the batting order.

Wood was a victim of Marcus Trescothick’s decision to retire from international cricket and open the batting for Somerset and Newell says his performances could be a key factor if Notts are to achieve success in Division One.

“The only contentious decision was leaving out Bilal Shafayat but we felt that Matt Wood’s experience as an opening batsman gave him the edge,” said Newell.

“If Matt and Will can form a good opening partnership then we have every chance of being successful in this division.

“Bilal will push for a place and he can force his way into the reckoning by working hard.”

Darren Pattinson, a team mate of David Hussey’s at Victoria, is also in the side for his first appearance on the county scene since stepping up from English club cricket.

Chris Read captains the side, which also includes Graeme Swann and Mark Ealham, but Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad will not feature until the end of April following their success with England this winter.

Bulwell born Luke Fletcher will also travel with the squad as twelfth man.

Notts’ defeat to Kent in the friendly last week with an experimental line-up is of no concern to Newell who has embraced the underdog tag afforded to his side by the bookmakers. Notts were largely unfancied the last time they won promotion to the top flight but went on to win the competition in 2005.

He said: “It is a very open competition and I can’t see anyone running away with it or being cast adrift.

“We’ll have a very good idea who the contenders are when we reach August and although Sussex are very strong, I think it will go to the wire.

“We set the benchmark by getting promoted and then winning the title and I am not concerned if people think that we are under-powered.”

Kent will give a debut to Pakistan Test player Azhar Mahmood who joined from Surrey in the off-season.

A right-arm, fast-medium bowler and middle order batsman, Mahmood made his entry into the Test arena against the visiting South African team in 1997, scoring 128 in the first innings and 50 in the second without dismissal.

He has signed a two-year deal with the reigning Twenty20 Cup holders and hopes to help them improve on their seventh-placed finish last term.

Chairman thanks fans

Notts County Chairman John Armstrong-Holmes has thanked supporters for "exceeding expectations" as they roared the team on to victory over Accrington Stanley on Saturday.
More than 2,500 fans took advantage of the opportunity to use the Kop Stand for the first time.
But despite the success of that venture the Chairman has revealed that the Kop will not be available to County fans for the final home game of the season against Wycombe Wanderers on 26 April.
He explained: "The Police allowed us to give the Kop over to our supporters because we knew Accrington wouldn't bring many fans with them.
"In the event they brought 101, but the same will not apply with Wycombe.
"We have been advised that they may bring up to 2,000 supporters, and that means the Kop will have to be made available to them. This is a Police decision, and one we have to accept.”
The Chairman says Notts are investigating the possibility of turning the Kop into County territory at some stage in the future, but complications will have to be ironed out before that can happen.
He added: "I would like to thank our supporters for the way they responded to our initiative.
"To be honest we estimated that about 800-1,000 would use the Kop, so to get 2,500 was brilliant and we were delighted that 5,424 Nottingham people came to the game."

Notts 1 Accrington Stanley 0

Chants of “We’re staying up” rang around Meadow Lane at the final whistle as Notts County claimed a vital 1-0 victory and moved five points clear of the drop zone.

The Magpies merited the three points, particularly on their first-half performance, and they were cheered on by a buoyant Notts crowd, emanating from The Kop.

The idea to move Notts fans behind the goal, previously claimed by the travelling contingent, was well received by Ian McParland, and it undoubtedly generated an atmosphere for the home side to thrive on.

“I thought they were fantastic today,” McParland commented. “They stuck with us, and we got a bit edgy because of the position we are in, but the fans kept going and the noise was fantastic coming out of The Kop”.

The inclusion of Myles Weston on the left side of the midfield four provided Notts with a cutting edge, and the youngster’s pace was too hot to handle for the Accrington defence. Jason Lee almost profited from Weston’s mazy run and pass, but the veteran striker shot straight at Accrington keeper Kenny Arthur.

County continued to ask the questions, with the away side content on getting men behind the ball and breaking on the counter-attack when the opportunity arose. However despite Notts possession, their Achilles heel, of scoring when on top of the opposition, seemed to be rearing it’s ugly head once again.

That was until the 36th minute, when striker Ryan Jarvis drilled home to give Notts a deserved lead. A deep ball in to the box fell at the front man’s feet, and after his initial effort was blocked, he made no mistake with the second bite of the cherry, shooting into the bottom left hand corner.

The goal, Jarvis’s first since February, was richly deserved after his hard-working performances in recent weeks, and it helped to steady the nerves of the home fans.

The second period saw Stanley come out the blocks quicker than the Magpies, in eager pursuit of an equaliser. Shaun Whalley should have done better with his effort, which flew high and wide following Paul Mullin’s measured flick-on.

The tempo, which had dictated County’s earlier play, seemed to be on the wane, and in an effort to ignite the spark once more, the Notts boss introduced Lawrie Dudfield in place of the quiet Danny Crow. It almost proved to be an inspired substitution, with Dudfield beating his marker before firing a fierce shot at the Stanley keeper.

At the other end, the visitors nearly grabbed an equaliser through Whalley, as the pendulum swung once more. He beat two County defenders before firing marginally wide of Russell Hoult’s goal. Stanley’s attacking approach opened up the game and it started to become a real end-to-end encounter.

Weston’s pace again blighted the Accrington back four, and Phillip Edwards was lucky to stay on the pitch after recklessly hauling the winger down. Referee Mr Boyeson only brandished a yellow, but it could have been worse had Edwards been adjudged to be the last man.

McParland was quick to praise the youngster after his performance. “Myles has got ability he just has to realise that. He’s 20 now, I’m hoping in the next six months he’s going to fully develop.”

Notts had to hang on towards the end as the visitors threw everything they had at them, but not for the first time this season, the County defence were resolute and remained solid in weathering the Stanley storm.

I have no issue with the fans

Colin Calderwood has spoken out over his relationship with Nottingham Forest’s fans and insisted he holds no bad feeling towards them.

The spotlight was firmly on the Reds boss after his views following the draw against Bristol Rovers when he was prompted over the chorus of boos and criticism the players received in the last 15 minutes.

He indicated in his post match interview that supporters need to use more common sense in their reaction to help get the best out of the players’ performance.

The comments angered many fans, already fearful of a fourth year in the third tier of English football and who are dismayed at the failures of the club to challenge for automatic promotion.

But the 43-year-old, who is expected to lose his job if Forest fail to gain promotion this season, said his comments merely came from a line of questioning over the issue that was then perceived to be a negative reaction.

He said: “I was asked a question and they(the press) wanted to go down that line and have a pretty negative answer for them and I tried not to give that but because I’ve answered a question on it, it leads into this type of scenario.”

“I don’t have any anger towards them(the fans). I think we can do our job and aided and helped by them would be a fantastic thing to have, and I have no displeasure or no feeling of discontentment towards any of them.”

“The fans are very much supporters of the club and if there’s anything I can address as manager of the club it’s just a little bit of sensibility to the team who are out on the pitch and who are striving to do their best.”

We'll survive fright games

Kelvin Wilson has reiterated Nottingham Forest will give it everything they’ve got to succeed in the play-offs despite the end of season games being so frightening for players.

The Reds skipper, 22, was part of Preston North End’s play-off bid for the Premiership in 2006. And despite succumbing to Leeds in the semi-finals that year he feels the experience was all important.

He said: “I was on the bench for the games at Preston but the atmosphere was frightening. It was my first experience of it but it was brilliant.”

“They’re one off games and you’ve just go to out there and give it your all. Sometimes you need luck on your side but you’ve got to make luck be on your side.”

“You’ve got the biggest crowd of the season and your playing for a massive stake but that’s the pressure you’ve got to cope with and I think that the players are willing to take it on.”

“I’ve come here to get promotion. The aim is to play as high as you can and I’ve experienced it in the Championship for a little while and with the squad we’ve got here I believe we can be part of it.”

You were our 16th man!

It is game on now for the two remaining fixtures of the season after an amazing game at Meadow Lane on Sunday against Exeter Chiefs.

The second highest crowd of the season, nearly 2000 people, were treated to a classic encounter between two of the best sides the league has to offer.

Having lost to Exeter in the two previous encounters this season, both at Sandy Park, there was a hint of revenge in the air as we run out onto the pitch at Meadow Lane with the Nottingham crowd behind us.

We are now joint second with the Chiefs on 106 points and the race is on to finish runners up in National Division One.

We travel to Esher on the 19th of April and we are on the road again at Coventry for the final game of the season a week later.

Exeter on the other hand face Coventry at home on April 19 and follow that with a tricky trip to Doncaster on the final day of the season.

The focus for these games will be on picking up bonus point wins (winning the game and scoring four tries) from the two games and hope that Exeter fail to do just that.

Following a draw between Plymouth and Cornish Pirates we are guaranteed to finish third this season and that alone is a fantastic achievement but to finish runners up would be the icing on the cake.

You only have to look around at the other sides in the top six to realise that we have punched well above our weight. All of the other sides around us have a full time squads and much higher budgets. W

We have been fortunate to be very lucky with injuries this season which has meant that we could field our full strength side but it is a very tight balancing act and the medical staff at the club have done a fantastic job.

The players have their first week off training this week, due to the fact that we have not got a game this weekend, and it is long overdue.

We have been training full on since the beginning of June and have not had a weekend off since August! The bodies will enjoy the rest but the minds are racing ahead to what we have to achieve in the next two games.

Thank you for all your support at Meadow Lane last weekend, you were the 16th man out there!

Take the pressure off

Russell Hoult has warned Notts County’s strikers to take the pressure off the Magpies defence- or face more trouble in the fight against relegation in League Two.

The 35-year-old on loan from Stoke City has overseen the Magpies concede just two goals in the last seven games, including five clean sheets.

But he has been alarmed at the willingness of the team’s strikers to put their heads in where it hurts-and grab the vital goals and increase the margin of points from the bottom two and rivals Mansfield Town.

The team have mustered only a single goal in the last seven games from defender Michael Johnson. They now face Bury at Gigg Lane on Saturday, a side with one of the best defensive records in the division in 2008.

And Hoult indicated the strikers, in his opinion, are getting enough service to help them in their goal quest.

He said: “There’s only so much defending you can do without letting a goal in. The strikers have got to start scoring goals and quick.”

“The ball’s bouncing around in the box. I think they’re getting the supply, the crosses are going in, it’s not like they’re not creating any chances, it’s just that they’re not putting the ball away-given ten chances you should score a goal.”

”Clean sheets aren’t going to keep us in this league, we’ve got to start scoring goals one way or another, people have got to want to go in there and score goals otherwise there’s only one place this place will be going and it’s not very nice thinking about it.”

“The back four have been under pressure all season because we’re not scoring enough goals, you can’t concede two goals in seven games and only score one and expect to get out of the situation we’re in because it’s not going to work.”

“I was at West Brom and we had 29 clean sheets one year but we won 17 games 1-0. After the games, me, the back four and the midfield lads- we’d just lay into the centre forwards-the people who are supposed to be scoring the goals to get you out the trouble.”

Sherriff: Nearly a result of a lifetime!

What a game!!! We nearly pulled off one of the results of a lifetime last weekend at Franklin’s Gardens, the home of Northampton Saints. Leading 7-6 just before half time we were reduced to 14 men against the league leaders and Premiership elect Northampton.

To go a man for 10 minutes in the bin is hard enough against a team of that quality but to play a full half against the likes of New Zealand international Bruce Reihana and British Lion Tom Smith, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the flood gates might have opened. But that was not the case.

True we had to weather a number of storms throughout the half ,both physical and meteorological, but the defensive effort was resolute and the commitment outstanding.

I was very proud to be part of the team after the game; it was one of those days where we all pulled together completely for each other and so nearly snatched a draw right at the death.

It will have taken a lot out of the boys, I know I was still feeling the effects of the game on Monday but we were back together on Tuesday night to analyse the game and move forward to this week. And they just keep getting bigger!!!

Exeter Chiefs at Meadow Lane on Sunday feels like the pinnacle of the season. At present we are four points behind them with three games remaining. If we can defeat them this weekend with a bonus point then it is all in our hands to finish 2nd and finish the season off in style.

Games against Exeter are always a tough battle; they have a full time squad of around 40 players compared to our part time squad of around 30.

Nottingham is steadily building into one of the power houses of the division but sometimes it is difficult to compete against the higher levels of investment that seems to be abundant in the teams around us.

This will count for nothing come 2:30pm on Sunday though as 15 men stand toe to toe at Meadow Lane.

We need the support of Nottingham both on and off the pitch, in terms of fans coming to watch games and also investors pushing us towards the Premiership.

Something special could happen at Meadow Lane on Sunday, I hope you’re there to be part of it..

Young guns will cope

Nottingham Forest's young central midfielders will cope with the demands and fatigue of the play-offs according to Colin Calderwood.

Chris Cohen, Sammy Clingan, Lewis McGugan and Matt Thornhill have only played 237 league games between them- hundreds less than players in the same positions in Forest’s rivals for a spot in the top six.

But the Reds boss is adamant the ability of the quartet will rise above anything that will stand in their path to promotion-despite the disappointment of all but mathematically ending their automatic promotion push at Doncaster and Carlisle.

He said: “An angle you can go down is that they don’t have the experience but how are they going to get it if they’ve not been involved in it?

“And they’ve been in so much of getting us here that I wouldn’t want anyone else.”

“Sammy and Chris have played upwards of 100 league games now and Lewis is completing is his first full season, so they’re all progressing.”

“It’s as much about progression and hope that what they’ve got to give in the future that keeps me really really buoyant about the situation.”

He also confirmed the management at the club will keep a careful eye on Thornhill and McGugan who have been

On Thornhill he added: “You get a surge in your debut and maybe your second and your third game but after that there’s got to be some sort of effect on him and we’ll monitor him very carefully.”

“With Lewis we’re giving him a little bit not so much of a rest but we’ve taken him out of the action a little bit because I see the effect that Sammy had last year after his first full season.”

“He’s played a number of games and sometimes, although you don’t like it it’s best to come away from a couple games and then come back.”

Defence the difference

Richard Butcher has paid tribute to the Notts County defence stating their contribution has made the difference in their fight for survival in League Two.

The Magpies recorded a five match unbeaten run in the crucial 0-0 draw with Mansfield on Saturday

And despite the lead now being cut to four points after The Stags 2-1 win over Wrexham, he indicated how important it was to gain at least a point out of Saturday’s local derby.
He said: "We are always disappointed not to win a game, but the main thing against Mansfield was not to get beaten - and we did that.”"We defended really well. Our defence has tightened up over the past few weeks and that has been very important.”"Michael Johnson has come in and been brilliant and calmed us all down and told us what to do and Mike Edwards has played really well since he came back in.””As long as we keep picking up the points and clean sheets I think we are going to be okay. Two more wins will probably be enough."