Three goals, three points on the road and a brace for Macaulay Langstaff ensured Notts fans would enjoy their second winning weekend of the season.
On the face of it Notts looked like good value for the win and despite bossing the possession as usual it was probably a much closer game than the score line suggests. In fact Doncaster fan and blogger Daniel Pearson (@18Dapper) was quite scathing in his post match assessment of both teams when interviewed on the Around the Grounds video podcast. When asked of his opinion of Notts he was adamant Doncaster gifted the game to the Magpies suggesting a lack of press and intensity from the home side was their undoing.
Whilst his lack of any credit for Notts came across as a slight case of sour grapes the match data suggests he may have had a point.
The press from Doncaster was pretty much non-existent, so much so that Notts did very little pressing of their own. Additionally, this was a game that saw Notts mix up their deep circulation with more long balls than the opposition, something we have seen utilised more by Luke Williams in these early games compared to last season.
Doncaster edged it on chances created and wing play, however most of their chances recorded relatively low xG values, scoring with their only big chance based on the xG data, although Faal and Ironside both had 'good' chances. For Notts Langstaff's opener recorded 0.36 xG with his diving header for the second recording a lower 0.14. Jones again showed his quality in front of goal scoring with a chance that recorded just 0.11 xG and the other big chance came for Scott on 78 minutes at 0.20 xG.
To summerise there was just 0.10 xG separating the two teams meaning Notts edged it on expected points and expected win percentage, but on another day a draw may have been a fair shout.
We should also acknowledge that despite what looked like a good overall performance the conceding of a goal so late into the game is nothing short of frustrating and whilst the game was already won it was an unnecessary loss of ball possession that presented the hosts with an opportunity to put pressure on the Notts goal.
Finally, we have recently been a little concerned about the low number of high value goal scoring opportunities Notts had been creating this season, but with two goals for Langstaff in the areas we really want to see him, getting on the end of crosses in and around the 6 yard box, there are signs that the Magpies are starting to find their clinical attacking form we have come to expect from a Luke Williams team.
Don't forget you can catch up with the season stats here.
