Nottinghamshire FC

On the face of it, if your team remains unbeaten in their League programme for the first three months of the season then you are likely to be quite happy. However, it is a measure of how far Nottinghamshire FC have come that there has been great disappointment that the First and Seconds unbeaten league records are now over.

Notts First XI followed up their excellent draw with fellow Championship contenders Caribbean Cavaliers by losing narrowly to second placed Ashland Rovers. This was a game Notts could have won, had chances gone their way, but they were beaten on the day by two long through balls which Notts defence uncharacteristically failed to deal with. Before this game Notts had only conceded 4 goals in 6 league games and had looked very solid in this department.

The first league defeat for Notts 2nd XI could, perhaps, have been predicted, as it occurred against Sherwood Forest, the Twos ‘bogey’ side who always seem to raise their game against Notts. This was a tense and closely fought game decided by an extremely soft penalty and a deflected goal in a 3-2 victory for the home side.

The crucial factor in both these defeats will be how positively the two sides respond to them. The Ones have a bit of a wait as they embark on a mini Xmas break with three blank Saturdays before they recommence league action against Bassingfield on the 11th January. Hopefully this will allow plenty of time for holiday hangovers to disappear!

For Notts Reserves it is “out of the frying pan and into the fire” as they have to compete with high flying 100%ers FLL Aerospace on their home ground. There is no break at all for the Twos as they have fixtures scheduled throughout the Christmas period which may well stretch their resources as injury and unavailability bites.

Notts Threes continue to show steady signs of improvement as they notched their second league win in a row with a 3-2 defeat of FC Dynamo. They now have a healthy playing record of winning 5 and drawing 3 of their 11 games so far.

Having players available regularly is proving to be a problem for Manager Rob Johnson. He often starts his week with a squad of 18 or so players and has this number reduced steadily by players being unavailable due to work or other commitments, some not dropping out until the last minute. Obviously this makes Bob’s job really difficult and he needs players’ help and support in letting the club know as soon as possible if you are unavailable to play the following Saturday. As a club, we pride ourselves on being better organised than most and our aim is to keep our players as informed as possible about what is going on in the club. All we ask in return is that players keep open channels of communication with managers and officials and that you let us know your availability as early as possible.

Despite the reverses the has suffered recently the overall club playing record is extremely impressive.