TALKING POINTS

Joe Uglow – @Joe_Ugs

Joe discusses the game at Plainmoor

TOPE OR NOT TOPE?

It seemed a strange decision to take off Tope Fadahunsi so early on on Saturday. With our tactics of breaking up play and going long it felt like he may get some joy in behind and there were a couple of early long balls where his presence alone appeared to cause uncertainty in the Notts defence. But listening to GJ’s post-match interview it was clear he felt Tope had to do more, especially defensively as Kyle Cameron marauded into midfield on numerous occasions without being tracked, so I can see the theory behind the early change. Cameron certainly had less joy coming forward once Lewis Collins came on and was able to chase him down. I’d quite like to see Tope used as an option off the bench in the next couple weeks as he could add a real spark in the final minutes of games.

A RED CARD WAITING TO HAPPEN

Unfortunately it was another terrible performance from Ryan Hanson, and surely we won’t see him near another starting line up for a while? Obviously under instruction to break up play and get about the Notts side, he flew into a tackle, missed the ball and ended up getting a yellow card very early on. He then inexplicably did it again, this time 25 yards out from goal with Notts on the attack. 9 out of 10 refs would have binned him there and then, luckily for us the man in the middle took pity on Ryan and appeared to give him one more chance. Ten minutes later after a brief spell where he looked petrified to tackle, he flew in again, missing all of the ball and clumsily bundling over the Notts midfielder. To the amazement of all 4 sides of the ground the ref kept his cards in his pocket again and GJ took the hint (10 mins too late in my opinion) and brought on Marshall for the hapless Hanson.

MORE THAN A UTILITY PLAYER

When we signed Shaun Donnellan I thought he would be nothing more than a bit-part utility man, able to play across the back 4 and the midfield, but you’d probably say he’s been one of, if not, our best player over the course of the last 2 months. Another impressive performance on Saturday both at centre half and centre midfield, and a cracking assist for Tom Lapslie’s goal!

NEW ARRIVALS

A very assured performance on Saturday from Nico Lawrence, a player who seems to be getting better with every performance. A momentary lapse allowed Langstaff to bury the first goal but there isn’t another striker in the league as deadly as him so you can’t blame Nico too much for that. Otherwise Langstaff was kept incredibly quiet and a lot of that was down to the Southampton loanee. It was also good to get a glimpse of Lewis Collins after he came on in the first half. Not an easy game to make your debut but he showed glimpses of what he’s capable of, and played a key part in our goal. He reminded me a lot of how Will Goodwin looked when he first joined us and hopefully over the coming weeks he can develop much the same way as Goodwin did.