Tue 11th & Thu 13th February

[kieran_vale]

Watched most of the game last night from about 15 minutes flicking between the Darts every now and then. So i missed the golden opportunity Jatta chance. First half Notts were the better side and played some good football, however didn't really create very much. Vale were less impressive on the ball but oddly I always felt they were probably going to be threatening if they ever got into the final third.

Second half was much more even. The Curtis -> Stockley change seemed to give Vale more impetus and Notts looked unsure what to do. The goal was criminally bad from a Notts perspective but a lovely touch and finish by Curtis. Notts then applied a bit of pressure and were unlucky to hit the bar towards the end.

Obviously there is more than 1 way to skin a cat but the 2 different styles are evident. I guess the conclusion here is that Vale were more efficient with the ball. Notts seemed to miss McGoldrick and Jatta to me looked a frustrated figure well marshalled. There is only 1 point between the sides and Notts are many people's favourites to finish above Vale, but given how league 2 is, I wouldn't fall off my armchair if Vale were to finish above Notts.

Finally, is there any concern about Stockley? He went off injured against us and went off injured again last night. Clearly Curtis is a totally different player but given the big pitch, his running into the channels seems a good/better option than Stockley anyway?

Regards Stockley at Swindon from what Moore said he felt something in his back which is why he went off. Presumably a spasm or something like that. Trained Tuesday but then went off with the same again so guess it’s a waiting game now. I do agree Ronan Curtis coming on allowed us to be more aggressive with our pressing and him and Tolaj who is increasingly becoming our key player combined well. Stockley is more a hold up player than someone who will lead the press but truth be told the whole team first half just was very poor.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

At the start of the season I expected Notts to finish about 14th this season so I was fully expecting Port Vale (and many) to finish above Notts but Part Time Stu has proven us all wrong.

We missed a McGoldrick or Whittaker just behind Jatta to link the play. Thought Amos made a good save or two and a good block on the line. So created plenty in the first half but only really one chance in the whole of the second. Unlucky for the new signing to hit the bar with a tricky chance.

 

[valefan16]

Watched most of the game last night from about 15 minutes flicking between the Darts every now and then. So i missed the golden opportunity Jatta chance. First half Notts were the better side and played some good football, however didn't really create very much. Vale were less impressive on the ball but oddly I always felt they were probably going to be threatening if they ever got into the final third.

Second half was much more even. The Curtis -> Stockley change seemed to give Vale more impetus and Notts looked unsure what to do. The goal was criminally bad from a Notts perspective but a lovely touch and finish by Curtis. Notts then applied a bit of pressure and were unlucky to hit the bar towards the end.

Obviously there is more than 1 way to skin a cat but the 2 different styles are evident. I guess the conclusion here is that Vale were more efficient with the ball. Notts seemed to miss McGoldrick and Jatta to me looked a frustrated figure well marshalled. There is only 1 point between the sides and Notts are many people's favourites to finish above Vale, but given how league 2 is, I wouldn't fall off my armchair if Vale were to finish above Notts.

Finally, is there any concern about Stockley? He went off injured against us and went off injured again last night. Clearly Curtis is a totally different player but given the big pitch, his running into the channels seems a good/better option than Stockley anyway?

Stockley is massive for us really but I don't think he was fit last night, pretty much said after the game we wanted to try and get 60 out of him with the 9 day rest after but he was in agony so had to come off with the same issue. He was off it last night. Curtis though is a quality player in his own right above this level and the fact he can't get in most weeks is madness really after the dross we had to endure last season in attacking areas.

I felt first half we let Notts County have the ball but didn't do the right things ourselves, once we changed it then we flipped the game on its head and they didn't have the answer so pleasing, we are more adaptable in style than maybe County, we can dig in and generally are excellent without the ball but do have the quality like at Harrogate for example to dominate play with the ball, just wish Moore would take the handbrake off at times a bit more as had we pushed the two midfielders higher from the start we probably have a different conversation on the first half performance.

We have had a tougher run of games since New Year than most around us, played you who are flying, Notts, away to Chesterfield and Doncaster, Accrington with 10 men for 80 minutes and are unbeaten so key now will be when we have our run against strugglers after Salford, one thing we've probably got on Notts County is our ability to dig in and beat teams around us (Doncaster/Notts x 2/Salford/AFC Wimbledon/Chesterfield) which maybe what could be key come May. Its tight though, some good teams in there but we are in great form so hopefully can keep that going now, We will probably beat Salford then follow it up with defeats at Tranmere and at home to Harrogate though knowing Vale!

I just feel uneasy with the form we are in since New Years Day considering we won 5 games which equates to 1 every 2 months of football over 2 season after New Years Day 2023-24!

 

[valefan16]

I’d say that’s fair. One factor that I don’t think helped Notts was our pitch which in fairness has usually been very good seemed to be quite heavy on the legs of the players last night. Certainly from our perspective the 9 day rest and let the others in the league fight things out at the weekend will be welcome now. Am sure if Jatta had buried that one first half or Amos didn’t play so well first half in goal for us the whole thing is a different conversation this morning.

Not sure what time you got in the ground or if there but they watered it heavily, especially the box Notts shot towards first half. Possibly a tactical decision.

 

[Son of Cod]

Is this meant to be some sort of evidence he’s not good at football or something?

Not a comment on their ability, I think your recruitment up top over recent seasons point to him potentially being a decent player. It was more of a comment on how reliant you could possibly be on a young lad with so few appearances. Just spotted two of his four appearances are 12 and 22 min cameos as well. If this is the level of barrell scrapping we're stooping to then I'm getting ready to use our new Faroese midfielders visa situation an excuse when you stick four past us at BP in a month's time.

 

[mozzavale]

A lot has been said about the players Notts were missing, understandably, but I think us missing Headley and Clark / Sang as wing backs on both sides had a big impact on us. John has been brilliant this season but felt like he struggled a bit last night. Shorrock looked like what he is, a kid playing mens football, appealing for free kicks that were never free kicks. First half in particular we missed Headley and Sang's quality crosses, especially from dead ball situations. Shorrock, John and Croasdale first half put awful balls into the box. Improved 2nd half with Croasdales free kicks executed better and Curtis off Corners beating the first man.

 

[valefan16]

A lot has been said about the players Notts were missing, understandably, but I think us missing Headley and Clark / Sang as wing backs on both sides had a big impact on us. John has been brilliant this season but felt like he struggled a bit last night. Shorrock looked like what he is, a kid playing mens football, appealing for free kicks that were never free kicks. First half in particular we missed Headley and Sang's quality crosses, especially from dead ball situations. Shorrock, John and Croasdale first half put awful balls into the box. Improved 2nd half with Croasdales free kicks executed better and Curtis off Corners beating the first man.

Not to mention Chislett probably walks into most L2 teams and was also absent (all be it not been as good the past few games before his bereavement), Rico Richards who's been an excellent signing especially in home games.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Not a comment on their ability, I think your recruitment up top over recent seasons point to him potentially being a decent player. It was more of a comment on how reliant you could possibly be on a young lad with so few appearances. Just spotted two of his four appearances are 12 and 22 min cameos as well. If this is the level of barrell scrapping we're stooping to then I'm getting ready to use our new Faroese midfielders visa situation an excuse when you stick four past us at BP in a month's time.

Only reliant last night because of the absence of McGoldrick who plays a very similar role and that Jones fella.Thought that had been well covered.

So no barrell scrapping the fact his was MOTM last time out and scored and impressed at Gills, in his two starts gives you all you should need to know. Compound absences left Jatta isolated as anyone who watched could see.

Like the sound of the Faroese addition. Exotic.

 

[Dan Phillips]

No Headley, Clark, Sang, Chislett or Richards.

But it's only Notts who had key injuries. Lol.

 

[Valeite]

We were awful 1st half and nowhere near our best 2nd half on a bitterly cold night and a much lower gate( thanks very much Murdoch). It was refreshing to see a side visit and not cheat and the ref was decent his only strange decision was making Smith go off from that free kick at the end to change his shirt from blood caused by an off the ball elbow in the first half and allow the kick before he got back on.This was the one where the new signing for Notts somehow hit the bar from a free header. A valuable double over Notts acheived without being great and we close the gap on the autos. I think some of our business in the window may cost us ultimately however. particularly up front.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

No Headley, Clark, Sang, Chislett or Richards.

But it's only Notts who had key injuries. Lol.

Can we have first names as well please Dan, will help identify these players

 

[spireite]

No Headley, Clark, Sang, Chislett or Richards.

But it's only Notts who had key injuries. Lol.

Don't mention the injuries! We mentioned it once but I think we got away with it.

 

[valefan16]

We were awful 1st half and nowhere near our best 2nd half on a bitterly cold night and a much lower gate( thanks very much Murdoch). It was refreshing to see a side visit and not cheat and the ref was decent his only strange decision was making Smith go off from that free kick at the end to change his shirt from blood caused by an off the ball elbow in the first half and allow the kick before he got back on.This was the one where the new signing for Notts somehow hit the bar from a free header. A valuable double over Notts acheived without being great and we close the gap on the autos. I think some of our business in the window may cost us ultimately however. particularly up front.

Goal scoring hasn't been the problem since January though? Granted last night we sat deep but Tolaj has 4 in 7 (plus a couple of assists) and Stockley has 3 with a couple of assists, even Ronan has a couple in a couple of sub apps so we do seem to have cured that despite a more cautious display last night.

We've been much better at scoring since NY but do seem more open.

Was only 13 fouls all game given which is refreshing, although again was too honest as Tolaj goes down when tugged back when clean through we probably play 10 men for the remainder!

 

[Soz]

Can we have first names as well please Dan, will help identify these players

didzy

 

[Soz]

just watched the highlights and feeling a bit better about the first half now. thought we were torn apart a bit first half but watching back and their two decent chances came from a misplaced pass that we inexplicably stopped running for and the lwb ran round to get onto it, and a over hit cross that was whipped back towards goal.

Oh and agree that if Tolaj goes down they get a red...or we get a red or something, who knows any more.

Doesn't change much as we were still shite first half and they were shite second half. pretty much the walsall game for me, could have been 1-0, 0-0, 0-1 or 1-1 and no one could really complain with any of it.

 

[valefan16]

just watched the highlights and feeling a bit better about the first half now. thought we were torn apart a bit first half but watching back and their two decent chances came from a misplaced pass that we inexplicably stopped running for and the lwb ran round to get onto it, and a over hit cross that was whipped back towards goal.

Oh and agree that if Tolaj goes down they get a red...or we get a red or something, who knows any more.

Doesn't change much as we were still shite first half and they were shite second half. pretty much the walsall game for me, could have been 1-0, 0-0, 0-1 or 1-1 and no one could really complain with any of it.

Seeing them back, really poor for the first big chance but good block from young Jack, the second one where Amos makes two saves is partly down to Amos making an initial error as he parrys the shot from the angle right into the centre of goal, makes a good stop from the strike though at the end of it to palm round the post but totally avoidable if he parries it into a better area.

The Header at the end was poor defending, all be it with Smudge there it probably doesn't happen, strange time for the referee to do it as assume he is his man.

The Goal was Vale 2023/24 defending back post levels but a quality finish, when Tolaj crossed it in front of where I sit most fans initially groaned thinking it was over hit!

 

[GTFCfish]

Give it a rest mate. Literally every post you make refers to us and referees. It wasn't funny the first time.

He was the best we've had this season (which is admittedly a low bar)

Fair do’s I’ll stop it.

 

[kieran_vale]

Seen that Crewe have had their appeal on that red dismissed. Utterly ridiculous but also not totally unsurprising.

 

[valefan16]

Seen that Crewe have had their appeal on that red dismissed. Utterly ridiculous but also not totally unsurprising.

Predictable! Love to know the justification.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Seen that Crewe have had their appeal on that red dismissed. Utterly ridiculous but also not totally unsurprising.

This is why clubs don't appeal. As clear an error as you're likely to see. What's the point of the appeal system?

 

[leedsvaliant]

just watched the highlights and feeling a bit better about the first half now. thought we were torn apart a bit first half but watching back and their two decent chances came from a misplaced pass that we inexplicably stopped running for and the lwb ran round to get onto it, and a over hit cross that was whipped back towards goal.

Oh and agree that if Tolaj goes down they get a red...or we get a red or something, who knows any more.

Doesn't change much as we were still shite first half and they were shite second half. pretty much the walsall game for me, could have been 1-0, 0-0, 0-1 or 1-1 and no one could really complain with any of it.

Those 2 chances were probably the only 2 decent ones created too. I think they has like 75% possession at some points during the 1st half.

We did similar when Crosby was manager. I'd come away from a game thinking we'd been the better team as we'd had all of the ball but then reflecting on it, all we had done is go from one side of the pitch to the other and back again.

There was 2 minutes left of injury time last night and the ball is being knocked from one side of the pitch to the other. You ain't going to score from 50 yards out. Must be incredibly frustrating to be so set on that style that you won't budge, even when needs Must.

 

[Soz]

Seen that Crewe have had their appeal on that red dismissed. Utterly ridiculous but also not totally unsurprising.

it's crazy but i can't remember vale ever having a red card overturned...it would have to be an incorrect application of the law or mistaken identity or something at this point for it to happen.

 

[Soz]

Those 2 chances were probably the only 2 decent ones created too. I think they has like 75% possession at some points during the 1st half.

We did similar when Crosby was manager. I'd come away from a game thinking we'd been the better team as we'd had all of the ball but then reflecting on it, all we had done is go from one side of the pitch to the other and back again.

There was 2 minutes left of injury time last night and the ball is being knocked from one side of the pitch to the other. You ain't going to score from 50 yards out. Must be incredibly frustrating to be so set on that style that you won't budge, even when needs Must.

yeah i do find it funny if a team is lauded for being a great footballing team because they play a million pointless passes, inevitably around their defence. it's so shit to watch. totally agree with crosby, it was wing back > cb > dm > cb > cb > wing back and back again, over and over. I do think Notts tried a bit last night, the captian and the bald youth were pretty good at trying to play forward passes but they'd get within about 30 yards of goal and hit a brick wall most of the time. maybe they should have targetted shorrock a bit more down the right wing. There were large portions of that first half where absolutely nothing happened though, because we had no interest in moving and they ran out of ideas to get us to move.

 

[jacobncfc]

The Header at the end was poor defending, all be it with Smudge there it probably doesn't happen, strange time for the referee to do it as assume he is his man.

Apparently Jatta pulled the cotton bud out of Smith’s nose that was stopping him bleeding just before so he had to go off haha. The one where Jatta slaps him it looks very much like Smith tweaks his nipple or something to provoke it as well. Glad they were both having such a good time.

 

[kieran_vale]

Apparently Jatta pulled the cotton bud out of Smith’s nose that was stopping him bleeding just before so he had to go off haha. The one where Jatta slaps him it looks very much like Smith tweaks his nipple or something to provoke it as well. Glad they were both having such a good time.

Smith did media interviews after the game and saw the funny side of it all. Basically just put it down to a little “hustle and bustle” with a smile on his face. Didn’t even see the incident where he raised his hand to him other than Smith on the floor but he does that all the time so didn’t think anything else of it.

 

[JJ1990]

I've seen the rules that state that any hold in the box like the one Jamie Knight-Lebel did is a red card offence. Ok, so on that basis there should be 4 sendings off and penalties per game for identical challenges which almost always go unpunished. I bet every side in this division, heck in the EFL, can point to numerous similar challenges which got nothing. I'll be sure to make a mental note of the holds on our players whenever we have a free kick or corner tomorrow, I'm looking forward to all the penalties we're sure to get.

 

[Optipez]

Notts were too timid in making changes in the second half. It's gone now but Vale were not particularly good either half but Maynard just let them take control and at L2 defenders make mistakes and we did.
Fair play to Vale, they've done us for 6pts, deserved the win at ours and if you don't score, deserved it at theirs.
We never tried to win in the second half, Maynard settled for the point on the hour and tried to see the game out as he has done the last few games but this time against better opposition we got caught out.

 

[valefan16]

Apparently Jatta pulled the cotton bud out of Smith’s nose that was stopping him bleeding just before so he had to go off haha. The one where Jatta slaps him it looks very much like Smith tweaks his nipple or something to provoke it as well. Glad they were both having such a good time.

That’s our smudge! As James Collins and a few others can testify too.

It’s when they react he gets back up as the red is held aloft and just grins with that massive gap in his teeth. He’s nuts, happily dive heads into a load of boots to win clearances etc. madness he was overlooked first half of the season and not lost since his return to the side.

He has something like four reds he’s won from reactions and two or three retrospective bans (including our own Stockley!) and Jatta may be another to that list.

Proper all school sneaky. James Collins getting sent off at pride park and the Derby fans moaning it was feigned when he has a black eye was funny.

Imagine Jatta will not have come up against that before but can be fun to watch those battles, like with his namesake at Swindon at the weekend.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Those 2 chances were probably the only 2 decent ones created too. I think they has like 75% possession at some points during the 1st half.

We did similar when Crosby was manager. I'd come away from a game thinking we'd been the better team as we'd had all of the ball but then reflecting on it, all we had done is go from one side of the pitch to the other and back again.

There was 2 minutes left of injury time last night and the ball is being knocked from one side of the pitch to the other. You ain't going to score from 50 yards out. Must be incredibly frustrating to be so set on that style that you won't budge, even when needs Must.

Was the free header at the end from 5 yards out that hit the bar not a decent chance created?

Vale were lucky to not concede in the first half thanks to Amos and goalline clearance. Palmer should have hit the target but I think that whenever he shoots. I can't remember Vale doing anything in the first half in terms of creating chances maybe I've forgot one.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Notts were too timid in making changes in the second half. It's gone now but Vale were not particularly good either half but Maynard just let them take control and at L2 defenders make mistakes and we did.
Fair play to Vale, they've done us for 6pts, deserved the win at ours and if you don't score, deserved it at theirs.
We never tried to win in the second half, Maynard settled for the point on the hour and tried to see the game out as he has done the last few games but this time against better opposition we got caught out.

With the lineup we had I don't blame him. Seeing that XI I would have snapped your hands off for a draw and certainly didn't think we would boss the first half so much.