A goalless draw not completely devoid of controversy saw two of the leagues heavyweights slug it out for a share of the spoils . . .
Stockport County - 0
Notts County - 0
Notts Line Up (4-3-3/4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1???)
Luke Pilling
Dion Kelly-Evans
Alex Lacey
Connell Rawlinson
Jordan Barnett (Jimmy Knowles 77')
Matty Wolfe
Michael Doyle (C)
Ruben Rodrigues (Cal Roberts 77')
Enzio Boldewijn
Kyle Wootton
Jim O'Brien
Substitutes not used:
Ben Turner
Calvin Miller
Elisha Sam
Considering Stockport have been unable to buy a goal in more than four and a half games now and Notts have been creating very little of late, coupled with both teams having excellent defensive records the 0-0 shut out should come as no surprise.
Stockport thought they had finally found that elusive goal only for it to be controversially ruled out for offside following some excellent barracking of the assistant referee by Notts skipper Michael Doyle.
Connell Rawlinson's close range header from a corner provided Notts with their only proper attempt on target and John Rooney's free kick brought an excellent save from Luke Pilling.
Finally Alex Reid had a golden opportunity to put the game to bed late on but Luke Pilling was again equal to it, although in my mind I have visions of Michael Doyle screaming obscenity's in Reid's ear as he chased him down, doing his utmost to discourage the strikers efforts.
Key match stats and it's fair to say the Hatters had the better of it with Notts managing just the one attempt on target . . . not including Doyle's wind assisted cross:
Progress updated and the draw sees Notts hold onto 5th place.
Results tracker updated:
Points needed and based on current PPG a top 3 finish is still projected.
League segment chart updated. Grey bar shows total points available for that segment. Green bar shows total points gained and yellow bar the PPG for that segment.
4 points from a possible 9 in this segment means the PPG is a little low at 1.333.
Points by time segment. How many points would have been accumulated if games had finished at 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 minutes.
Looking at this Notts have generally got themselves into their highest points by the 60th minute but then there is a trend of dropping points again before pulling them back in the final 15 mins.
Onto player stats now and remember you can use the search function to see individual players or click on a column heading to sort highest to lowest etc.
Enzio Boldewijn continues to keep his record of appearing in every single game for Notts so far this season.
Meanwhile with Jake Reeves missing out through injury Michael Doyle now becomes the most played having accumulated over 1900 minutes.
Goal contribution table updated.
Goal participation by minute detailing player goal contribution efficiency.
Goals scatter chart:
Goals by time segment updated . . . not:
Neal Ardley's record updated:
One real positive from last night was the return of Callum Roberts, and although he didn't really get going during his 13 minute stint I'm sure everyone would agree that it was 13 minutes of pure joy in seeing him back in competitive action and provides us with some hope that with the defence performing so well the young winger's creativity will help to boost the Notts attack as we look towards a promotion push during the second half of the season.
Next up an FA Trophy quarter final on Saturday with National League South's Oxford City the visitors to Meadow Lane. All the xG analysis from the Stockport game will be included as normal in Saturday's pre-match preview.
As always thanks for reading.
COYP!
Richard