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With the chance of Championship honours diminishing over
the last few weeks, all three Notts teams are battling for
the unofficial title of ‘best team’ within the
club. Of course the argument is a totally uneven concept
as all three teams play at completely different levels,
but then when has logic ever been part of an argument in
football!
Since the last fanzine, the form team has certainly
been the threes who have now won their three league games,
scoring 13 goals with only 3 being conceded in reply.
Manager Rob Johnson hasn’t had a settled side either
and has had to chop and change his team on a regular basis
due to second team call ups, injury and unavailability.
This makes their run even more impressive.
Central to the Threes good form has been the team spirit
and the good form of several key players including Cemal
(Jam) Han who is rapidly creating for himself the well earned
title os ’supersub’. Jam is a player who since
he first came to the club has improved dramatically. He
has worked hard on his fitness and his touch on the ball
is developing well. When defences are tiring in the last
third of games, Jam has been introduced to devastating effect,
as in the 7-0 trouncing of Tibshelf, when he came on for
the last 20 minutes and scored twice.
The Threes now find themselves very handily placed in the
top six and with a crucial MAA Cup Quarter Final against
Kirkby Autocentre Reserves to look forward to, their season
is still very much alive.
Notts Reserves have endured a sticky patch either
side of Christmas which began with their MAA Cup exit after
extra time against Kingsway Cardinals. Their subsequent
three straight league defeats (their first of the season)
put a huge dent on their hopes of a top three finish, but
with a much needed win against well placed County Nalgo,
5-2, they have much still to play for as they have games
in hand and all the top sides to play again at home.
The Reserves are still missing their injured striker, Paul
Smith, who is finding the route to full fitness a struggle,
but they are delighted to have back the talented Jason Page
in midfield. Notts have certainly missed Jason’s quality
over the last couple of months.
Notts first XI’s chances of an MAA Premier
title seem a long way away after three successive league
defeats. Manager Colin Spencer has been generally happy
with the effort and commitment of his players, they have
been working hard but the results have not been going their
way. Unusually for the Ones it has been the defence that
has started to leak goals. After impressively only conceding
4 goals in their first 10 games, Notts have let in 9 in
their last 2 matches.
The MAA Cup and Notts County Cup are still very much alive
for the Ones, though, and they will be looking for a change
of luck over the next few games to prepare them for the
challenges of cup football that lie ahead.
Notts Ones are known as battlers who have the potential
to win ANY game if they get it right on the day. They know
they have a chance in at least one of these two competitions
to yet bring home some silverware this season and round
off their MAA stay in style!
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