It was the battle for the Derek Pavis trophy today, as Notts County faced off against Nottingham Forest at Meadow Lane in their third pre-season fixture. The away side finished the game as the victors, with a second-half goal giving them a 1-0 win in front of a massive 16,163 (5,742) crowd. With the team that Forest initially fielded, many Notts fans may have started to worry that this could be a very similar to the Stoke game a week earlier, as it has been reported that their starting 11 was bought for a total of £75 million, but the contest was very much the opposite, with the game being tightly contested right until the end.
After a brilliant minute’s silence, remembering those who lost their lives in the Nottingham attacks just over a month ago, Cedwyn Scott kicked off the game, and just minutes later the first chance of the game occurred. Midfielder Jim O’Brien found himself on the end of a low Aaron Nemane cross but skied the ball from a matter of yards away. The second big chance also came from a Nemane cross, as in the 16th minute, Reds captain Joe Worrall couldn’t properly clear the ball away, and Sam Austin coming in from the edge of the area took advantage of this, but on his weaker foot he could only send it over. Two very big chances for the Magpies, but neither could be put away.
There were a couple of chances from Forest in the first half, but they were collected without much fuss by goalkeeper Aidan Stone - this left both sides goalless as half-time was whistled. Forest made 10 changes at the break, going for a more balanced approach in terms of first teamers and youngsters on the pitch, Notts however only made 3 changes, with Palmer, Nemane and Scott being replaced by Bostock, Randall and Langstaff.
It wasn’t just the Trent that split the two sides today, as within a minute after half-time, the substitute forward Hwang Ui-Jo capitalized on a poor Kyle Cameron touch, and coolly slotted it home past the Notts keeper to put the away side ahead. Once again, Notts conceded because of a defensive error, however Luke Williams did pin that goal on himself for apparently distracting his skipper. Neither team hardly created a chance for the remainder of the game, with Forest getting one half-chance thanks to a header which seemed to go just wide of the post – apart from that, there was nothing. Notts were very slow in possession, not attempting to break the line regularly and when they did, the pass was overhit, and Forest were just happy to sit back and soak up the pressure. Notts found this low line of Forest’s difficult to penetrate, meaning star striker Macaulay Langstaff had no service at all.
(Sam Austin tussles with Forest's Brandon Aguilera)
One of the positives of the game for the Magpies was the link-up between wing-backs Tobi Adebayo-Rowling and Aaron Nemane, Tobi started the game at right-back, whereas Aaron was slightly further forward playing as a right-winger in a change of tactics for Notts – a 4-2-3-1 formation was deployed for the first 60 minutes as opposed to our usual 3-4-2-1. Both players were very comfortable in overlapping each other and playing through balls to whoever was the furthest forward – as they were both wing-backs last season, they were competent at covering whilst the other progressed forward and could also provide an option either as an underlap or a few yards behind them when the other was in the corner. The fluidity of these two’s play today could be very useful if we do end up changing tactics, as the understanding of the two wingbacks could result in a formation of a formidable duo on the right, terrorising anybody who plays opposite to them.
Lucien Mahovo came onto the pitch in the 60th minute alongside 6 others, impressing on the left-side of a back three, being confident in sweeping up possession when it came to him. However, the substitute defender that impressed the most was trialist Nathan Claxton, he was very confident and impressive with the ball at its feet, which leaves a great impression when he manages to do that in front of the sort of crowd we had today. He was great at covering as the centre of the back three, tall, athletic – if Aden Baldwin ever gets injured and we sign him, from what we have seen today he would be a great replacement.
Notts starting lineup: Stone – Chicksen, Cameron, Rawlinson, Adebayo-Rowling - Palmer, O’Brien – Jones, Austin, Nemane – Scott
Notts final 30 lineup – Stone – Mahovo, Claxton (trialist), Brindley – Munakandafa, Bostock* Bajrami, Randall* - McGoldrick, Crowley, Langstaff*
*came on in the 45th minute