The use of clichéd superlatives just won't do justice to that feeling of being back in a football stadium again. Not just any stadium, but the god damn home of football, Meadow Lane.
For those of us that were lucky enough to attend we were treated to a ruthless display as Ian Burchnall's attacking 3-5-2 took total control of a game that the visitors may just look back on and wonder how they managed to escape with conceding just the three goals.
Notts have now secured their ticket to the play off party and sit top of the last 6 form table having found a fluency and confidence in their play that will hopefully help propel the club onwards, and out of the backwaters of non-league football.
Key match stats:
Points needed updated and with one game to play and a play off spot now confirmed we look to try and secure 5th place and a home tie in the play off eliminators.
Progress updated and a 5th or 6th place finish would be about right given the way the season has gone.
Six game match segments updated and it appears Notts have finally found the type of form we expected at the start of this campaign.
13 Points from a possible 15 so far for this final six game segment.
Points by match times updated showing how many points Notts would have if games finished at certain times. Notts have had a tendency this season to start slow and win games later on rather than taking an early lead and holding on for the win.
Player stats updated.
Goals and assists table updated. Interactive version available on the website.
Goal scatter chart updated and plenty of goals scored in and around the penalty area.
xG data for the Weymouth game and to say it was all Notts would be an understatement, particularly second half where it appears Notts were constantly chucking grenades at the Weymouth goal.
Player xG ratings and just the 20 goal attempts to digest with Ruben Rodrigues accruing 2.22 xG on his own, that's x10 more than the whole Weymouth team for the game.
Key xG stats and Notts' expected win% for the game was 99.41% and that's without including the penalty!
Ian Burchnall's record updated after 16 games which is starting to look a little more respectable.
With just the one game left to play of the "regular" season we can look back on what has been an eventful campaign.
When Ian Burchnall took over from Neal Ardley his appointment was met with a degree of scepticism from some quarters and the poor start to his tenure certainly didn't help. However I remember writing that we should scrape beneath the surface where Burchnall is concerned and it might provide us with an indication of why he was on the Reedtz Brothers wanted list.
Hopefully their research is now starting to pay off and whilst we still have a small mountain to climb in gaining promotion back to the EFL, whether that be this season or not, it's becoming clear that the club has laid the foundations for a future we as fans can start to feel optimistic about.
As always thanks for reading.
COYP!
Richard