Just back

Good start...good tempo from kick off and Clifton following up to force over the scrambled effort....Clifton 9 times out of 10 was the player arriving in the box today, excellent workrate...but then i think we just started playing poorly on the ball for the remainder of the half but i thought we played pretty well off the ball in the work rate and effort in closing down.
The County midfield were picking up most of the second balls and running our players around but having said that they didnt look that threatening in open play.....thankfully County are poor at both ends so their chocolate fireguard defence came to our assistance.

How on earth Embleton didnt get booked when he clattered their player i dont know..clear retribution from him as he felt aggreived he didnt get a free kick a few moments earlier...thankfully the ref bottled it.

Second half again didnt look great until the third went in....then it was just a case of how many more would we get...very disappointed that Jolley didnt take the opportunity to give Buckley or A Rose 15 mins rather than Woolford as 3-0 up at home against a poor side would have been a freebie for either of those...having said that Woolford played ok and it was his effort that was deflected up for Thomas to spectacularly finish, difficult skill that and superbly done to cap off a decent performance from him.

Happy Xmas.. UTM

Strange old game. We won 4-0 without ever hitting any great heights with our play. In fact, we kept on gifting the ball back to County, but so bad were they that they did nothing with it. They looked neat and tidy in midfield, but full of holes at the back and blunt up front. Very much reminded me of us circa 2010 and if they don't buck their ideas up, they are heading in the same direction. Three headers into an open net from about three yards out is the sign of a very poor back line.

Not much else to say really, apart from mentioning the spectacular full moon over the Main Stand. We weren't brilliant, but we didn't need to be, as they were woeful. 3 more points, onward and upward.

Be interested to hear what jolly made of it. IMHO that was an absolutely vital 3 points, putting us 9 points clear of relegation and meaning we won't be in the bottom 2 come January when I think we are all pretty confident he's already got better players lined up.
You know what they say about teams that play poorly but still win.......

Thought we were very good out of possession but not so good with it.
Notts were shockingly bad and look relegation fodder, they reminded me of our relegation side, lots of ‘names’ who should be above this level but poor attitude and application.
Both our centre backs did very well, Hess and Thomas too. Wes had a running battle with Brisley who was very physical off the ball but Wes delivered the answer, a goal and 4 -0 victory
We looked like a team, Notts are a collection of overpaid individuals

We weren't at our best but they were shambolic at the back. We started very brightly and then scored the early goal but after that, I thought Notts County were the better side for most of the first half. Great to go in at 2-0 and the third goal knocked the stuffing out of them.

Pleased for Harry Davis too who is proving to be a very good signing.

If we can do the right business in January, we have the makings of a very good squad to build on for next season.

Am I right in thinking we're closer to play offs than relegation (points wise)

Quoted from lukeo

Am I right in thinking we're closer to play offs than relegation (points wise)

By a solitary point. 8 points off the play offs and 9 points from relegation.

With 3 tough games coming up it will be interesting to see what the table looks like New Year's Day.

A good result, 3 good points. Why do we have 11  players in our box at corners, when the ball is cleared opposition  collects and we stay under pressure. I believe Slade ( sorry for swearing) was slagged off  for this tactic. A better team picking up the ball will  cause us more problems than county did. Surely Thomas must be  in centre circle keeping two defenders occupied. I have great faith in what MJ is doing, but this troubles me. Mind you it doesn't take a lot to confuse /trouble me.  

If I was a Notts County fan I think I'd walk away thinking how did we lose 4 - 0? We where not at our "fluent best" if we ever have been and maybe it's just a case of we took our chances and our keeper made a couple of good saves and they failed miserably in front of goal and their keeper was poor? Who Knows? Anyway I'll take that every Saturday of he season.

Things that struck me today....

1. The players look like they are enjoying playing, working hard and more importantly working for each other.

2. I don't know what Jolley and his staff have done but the Town players look much more confident and mentally stronger than they have in ages. They appear to have unity, desire and a belief to back themselves in what they do.

3. And this worries me...... just as things are going well we lose Collins, Charlie, Hendrie to injury and maybe in the next few weeks could lose Fox and Embelton, all being well MJ won't have to start all over again.

4. 6 home wins in the last 7, 11 goals in the last 3 home games would suggest the players are up for it. Long time since we've seen a CB on a hat trick too.    

But.... Overall a good workman like performance on a day when both players and supporters where on the same page and that made for a good atmosphere. It could be argued we invited them  on to us (we did) but also credit to the defense who backed up with another good performance from Macca dd a good job overall.

Well done to all I reckon... UTM!!

P.S. - I know the squad is pretty thread bare but in my mind it was great to see 3 youngsters on the bench  today.  


    

The result today was due to everyone of the players working hard and playing for each other.We might not have the most talented team,but there is no faulting their work rate and togetherness.