Notts v Yeovil

Three more points needed here to virtually seal a play off place and keep alive our slim hopes of automatic - if Wycombe fail to beat Accy (or chessie next week for that matter) and we can claim victory here and next week at lowly Grimsby, it will go down to the final day at ML against a hopefully on-the-beach Luton, which would be a fantastic occasion and big crowd whatever.

Incredibly, we may be unchanged for the third straight game. I'm hoping Yeovil's recent run of midweek and weekend matches may catch up with them, and with no Zoko I'm going to go for 2-0 Notts, Grant and Forte. Plus a decent gate of 7k+

I think we will win this, reasonably comfortable BUT I think Wycombe will draw at home to Accy. Exeter will also beat Crawley putting us close enough to make it exciting but, nah need both to lose and ya to win all 3 games.
A win would secure our playoff spot though.

Notts 2-0 Yeovil
Wycombe 1-1 Accrington
Exeter 3-0 Crawley

3rd Wycombe +21 79
4th Exeter +14 79
5th Notts + 23 76

We need 3 points here cos weirdly I don’t fancy us up in Grimboland. Having lost Barnet and Chesterfield away already this would compete the set.

I said 6 points needed after deserved victory against Cov, and this is the game to achieve a play off spot

Come on Yeovil. Do your friendly neighbours a favour!

Yeeeeooooo!

Logic says we should win this given our regular dispatching of teams in the bottom half at home this season.

But this is Notts and we don't do logic. I'll be missing this one as I'm in Berlin on a stag do, but I'll be following on twitter.

I think we'll drag out our slim hopes of automatics for another week. Just can't see either Exeter or Wycombe dropping so many points between now and the end of the year that they cannot see it home

Devon_Lad said:

Come on Yeovil. Do your friendly neighbours a favour!

Yeeeeooooo!

Click to expand...

Apologies in advance

This will be an easy Notts win as our squad are already in Marbs (although they only deserve West Bay they way they've performed this season).

Fisher has put in a great shift since we signed him and Zoko is a big miss, I can see us maybe getting one but that's it. 4-1 County.

This is the most nervy end to a season I can remember. I've never been so tense across such a large number of games as I have this year.

Previously we've either been nowhere near autos or comfortably promoted with games to spare. If we win our all remaining games and still dont manage to go up I will be devastated.

Trapdoor said:

This is the most nervy end to a season I can remember. I've never been so tense across such a large number of games as I have this year.

Previously we've either been nowhere near autos or comfortably promoted with games to spare. If we win our all remaining games and still dont manage to go up I will be devastated.

Click to expand...

Failing to be promoted with 85 points will be absolutely tragic.

Devon_Lad said:

Failing to be promoted with 85 points will be absolutely tragic.

Click to expand...

We failed on 89 points once!

To be fair I think legitimately this season the top 5 as it stands have a good case for deserving promotion but thats just not how football works.

Notts need to win here. This squad has good spirit and have been great at home. I think Wycombe have a tough home game, but Exeter should dispatch Crawley. This would mean it goes to next week, where I think we will see if the pressure tells on all the sides.

Trapdoor said:

This is the most nervy end to a season I can remember. I've never been so tense across such a large number of games as I have this year.

Previously we've either been nowhere near autos or comfortably promoted with games to spare. If we win our all remaining games and still dont manage to go up I will be devastated.

Click to expand...

I felt like this until about a month ago but am now incredibly relaxed, funny what dropping off a bit can do for you. The whole club seemed a bit crippled by the pressure of being in the top three, since we’ve fallen off the pace we’ve started playing with a bit more freedom again.

If we get 80+ points and don’t go up it’ll be a bit gutting, though.

It’s a cliche but basically you get what you deserve beit automatics, play off place, nothing or relegation. If Notts go up, we deserve it. If we don’t, we deserve it. The season for the Stylish Magpies has been a Big Dipper, and easy to argue either way

Tbh, delighted to be up there at the business end of the season, it’s been a while

The_Viking_Magpie said:

It’s a cliche but basically you get what you deserve beit automatics, play off place, nothing or relegation. If Notts go up, we deserve it. If we don’t, we deserve it. The season for the Stylish Magpies has been a Big Dipper, and easy to argue either way

Tbh, delighted to be up there at the business end of the season, it’s been a while

Click to expand...

Indeed, first time in 20 years, fake Arab cash season notwithstanding. Can't really argue with that. To be fair I expected us to drop out completely after that terrible Cambridge game when we seemed totally 'gone', we've actually recovered quite well, apart from Chessie away

Let’s be honest we’ve been very patchy until very recently. Not complaining, play off semis would be decent for this season after what we’ve been served up in recent times

Hopefully a win against Yeovil with Accy beating Wycombe will help put pressure on Exeter! Hopefully they will be "this is an easy run in" mode and take their foot off the gas that will allow us to sneak 3rd because as it stands, it looks like it will be Exeter in third with the games left to play I feel. I have a funny feeling it's going to end up being a last day shootout, hopefully by the time we play Grimsby and Luton, they have nothing to play for so we can get 12 out of 12! If we end up in the playoffs, we get a nice head of steam building then as well

Are we a better team without Grant in the side?

No I don’t think so. If he was playing instead of Alessandra on one wing would we have been any worse off? No.

Notts problem since Yates left, is not only was he quality and we haven’t/can’t replace him but the wide men who impressed so much earlier in the season (Grant, Hawkridge and Alessandra, very much in that order) have all been poor in recent months. Not one wide man has been in good form. Those two things combined have killed our creativity in 2nd half of season

As for yesterday’s game, really enjoyed it.

Bright opening from both sides, plenty of opportunities at either end. Yeovil shaded the 1st half and should of been ahead imo. Forte’s opportunism and current confidence saw him hit the bar and put one shot wide and miss a free header but overall Yeovil looked better and harsh to be 1-0 at break.

2nd half, the oppositon came out very sloppy and gave away possession at the back lots.
A wonderful 20 years unfortunate own goal, never typed that before lol, made the game comfortable early on as Yeovil heads noticeably dropped and then they imploded

Notts all of a sudden looked good and scored 2 more, could of been 1 or 2 more after that truth be told.

In terms of players, thought Yeovil were
Summed up by the centre halves and centre forwards. One looked good, one really didn’t at either end.

As for Notts, the biggest positive was Virtue, thought he was slow, weak and poor against Cov. He was very good today, doesn’t look a wide man at all but has obvious ability and things worked well going through him.
Next up Forte, where was this enthusiasm earlier this season? All our play off hopes could rely on his shoulders, now that’s surprising. Worked hard, good control, good lay offs, and worked on scraps first half and threatened 3 times. Easily the two best Notts players on display, neither of course got MOTM.
Shola was Shola, the centre halves did their usual.

But the bad, Noble! Great against Mansfield awful in every home match before and since. A midfield of him and Hewitt isn’t good enough thats why we bypass them, and they get bypassed too easily when defending. Worrying.

Alessandra was a mixture of quiet and poor until we were 3-0 up. Need more from him

Entertaining competitive game with a misleading scoreline , Yeovil certainly came to play and put the effort in.

Must say great atmosphere from the 7000+ home fans, the Kop was in excellent voice from where I sat in the DP. Another very decent crowd. Looking forward to Luton next up

Thought we looked ok yesterday, far better than over Easter where we looked drained of belief and clueless up front.
Virtue and Forte give us a lot more movement and raw pace, no longer are we just lumping it up to Stead and Ameobi. The weak link yesterday for me was Noble who had a 4 out of 10 shocker.
Yeovil a bit jnlucky, first goal deflected after the keeper has committed himself and the OG was spectacular to kill the game.
Still odds against automatic promotion but we are gaining belief and momentum at the right time. Much more confident of us doing well in play offs than I was a month ago.

Great day for Notts yesterday Yeovil were terrible and looked like they didn't care. One of the most spectacular own goals I've seen ironically since Hollis bullet diving header away at Yeovil a few years ago. The lads finish to drill it into the top corner was remarkable and one of the few moments of luck we have had in recent weeks. After that Yeovil capitulated.

What was that referee on Stead running away outside of the box gets the ball booted at him by a keeper whose lost his head and he gets booked for it?

Disagree.Yeovil weren’t terrible first half , just shaded it as he better side and they were clearly not on the beach.

Ref was very very good for 60 mins then missed a clear handball penalty, didn’t see the Stead incident (I was watching him) and just guessed. But much better than recent refs at the Lane

How long until O’Connor can start. He’s exactly what we need in central midfield

Hopefully by the play-offs, him starting alongside Hewitt instead of Noble would be a huge bonus.

There could also be the possibility of Mason Bennett making a surprise return if we do have an extended season - back in training at Derby and I assume we still hold his registration. Could be a bonus that no one really expected, although Forte is playing as he is capable of now he knows he needs to earn another contract somewhere.