With a return to League One after a 14-year absence now secured, County’s focus turns to the one objective left remaining this season – to become Champions. They travel to Notts County on Tuesday night knowing that one more win would guarantee the League Two title.
First-half goals from Tanto Olaofe and Fraser Horsfall were enough to secure a 2-0 win over Morecambe at a sold-out Edgeley Park, and with it guarantee County’s third promotion in five years. The Hatters have been in the top three since October, leading the way for the majority of the campaign, and a run of six straight wins during the run-in has seen Dave Challinor’s side sprint over the finishing line.
The manager was keen to stress post-match that the job wasn’t done yet, however, with three more points from our final three games now required to claim top spot, and a first EFL league title for the club since the 1966/67 season. If we were to get the job done on Tuesday night, the team would be presented with the trophy after our final home game of the season against Accrington Stanley on Saturday.
There is work to be done before then though, as we take on a Notts County side who have won their last two games in the league after a difficult start to life under manager Stuart Maynard. An impressive 3-1 win at play-off chasing Walsall on Saturday has moved them up to 14th, still with an outside chance of sneaking into the top seven themselves – they trail 7th place Crawley by seven points with three games.
Streaming:
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Since we last met:
Notts County actually led the way at the top of League Two in the first few months of the campaign after a fine start to life back in the EFL under manager Luke Williams. When County hit spot for the first time back in October, it was the Magpies they replaced at the summit.
Their form had already started to dip by the time they visited Edgeley Park in December however, coming into that game having won just two in seven in the league. Goals from Kyle Wootton and Paddy Madden secured a 2-1 win for County that day, extending our lead at the top to six points, whilst Notts sat in sixth place.
Williams was impressed with his side’s performance that night though, and the side bounced back impressively over the festive period with a 3-0 win over Doncaster Rovers and a 5-0 thrashing of Morecambe.
Just a month later though, and the club were dealt a big blow with the announcement that manager Luke Williams had left the club in order to take up the job at Championship side Swansea City. Williams had guided the Magpies to promotion from the National League in his first full season, ending the campaign on 107 points, and left them in the play-off places in League Two.
Wealdstone manager Stuart Maynard was the man chosen to replace him. The 43-year-old joined after three successful years in the National League, turning the Stones into one of the most attractive sides to watch in the division. Despite operating on a part-time basis in an increasingly full-time league, Maynard guided the club through a difficult period during the covid pandemic before leading them to 16th and 13th place finishes – the latter being the Stones’ highest league finish in 36 years.
Maynard’s first game in charge was set to be this fixture before it was postponed in January due to a frozen pitch, meaning his first game ended up being a 1-1 draw at home to Barrow.
He had to wait until his fourth game in charge to taste victory for the first time, a 3-1 win at Newport County, and that remained the only win from his first ten matches in charge – losing seven of them.
That difficult start to life in the dugout saw the Magpies slump into the bottom half of the table, falling as low as 17th amid a catalogue of high-profile defensive errors. Remarkably, Notts are the joint-highest scorers in League Two alongside County with 86 goals, but also have the joint-worst defence alongside Salford City – having conceded 80 goals 43 league outings.
There have been green shoots of recovery in recent weeks, however. The side have won three of their last six games and taken a point from promotion-chasing MK Dons, scoring 15 goals in that time. That run included a first home win under Maynard in their last outing at Meadow Lane, beating Harrogate Town 3-0.
Amongst their ranks, they are able to call on the newly crowned League Two Player of the Year, Jodi Jones, who has operated on either flank under Maynard, as well as the current top scorer in League Two in Macauley Langstaff. Gambian forward Alassana Jatta was brought into the club in January from Danish side Viborg and has played a big part in those positive recent results, with five goals and two assists in his last seven games.
Match Stats:
- County will be looking to complete a first ever league double over Notts on Tuesday night. Our last win at Meadow Lane came in 2008, thanks to goals from Liam Dickinson and Anthony Elding.
- Saturday will be the 41st meeting between the two sides in all competitions – County have won 11 of the previous encounters, compared to 18 for Notts. We have, however, won the last two encounters, both at Edgeley Park.
- With 86 goals scored already this season, it is County’s best goalscoring season in the EFL since the 1956/57 campaign, when we scored 91 times under manager Willie Moir.
