An Unbelievable Day

It’s not often I get the chance to cross off a ground that I’ve wanted to visit for more than 2 decades.

Saturday 23rd March 2024 was my chance and Notts County’s Meadow Lane was my destination.

As home ground to the oldest professional club in the world Meadow Lane holds a special draw for football fans the world over.

It was with a smile in my voice that I made my way to the banks of the Trent for what turned out to be one of the most mind-boggling games of my life.

As I took my seat above the tunnel, looking out googly-eyed at the pristine meadow, there was no sign of what was to come.

Notts County sat 7 places above their visitors Salford City and had already taken 3 points from their visit to the Peninsula Stadium all the way back on September 15th.

If the chance to do the double over the Ammies wasn’t enough, despite them playing in Forest red, then they had the perfect motivation to secure their first home win of 2024 with just 6 points separating them from the playoffs.

it would also get the monkey off Stuart Maynard’s back, having yet to win at the Lane since he took over in the dugout.

With this motivation the Magpies soared out of the traps and the Ammies struggled to deal with it throughout the first half.

Limiting their visitors to a handful of chances on the break throughout the first half, whilst creating a hatful of guilt-edged of their own should have given the eldest pros in the world an unassailable lead at half-time. Instead a display of astonishing profligacy saw them head back down that tunnel trailing their Mancunian visitors.

A tantalising ball that bisected the 6 yard box only for Macauley Langstaff’s slide to be short by mere inches from opening the scoring within 3 minutes of kick-off was the first of many chances the hosts left begging to be finished off.

Jodi Jones was a constant thorn in the visitor’s sides throughout the half and he was next to create an opportunity for County. After carving his way through City’s midfield and defence he slammed the ball towards the bottom corner only to be denied by Alex Cairns getting down smartly to smother the effort.

Next up was an unmarked Jaden Walker, who headed wide from point blank range after being picked out beautifully by Jones.

Jones would take it on again in the 20th minute as he scythed through the visitors again only to fire agonisingly wide of the right post, taking paint with it as it whipped it’s way behind. The mastery Jones had over the opposition, especially their left back was mesmerising.

County bossed the first 30 minutes so much that in my voice notes I uttered the prophetic words ” the only problem for County is they haven’t put the ball in the net” a minute later County were behind.

Salford showed their hosts how to be clinical by scoring with their first proper chance of the match. A misplaced pass in midfield by Adam Chicksen was picked up in midfield by Conor McAleny, who waltzed his way past 3 defenders before slotting the ball under the despairing dive of Sam Slocombe to give the Ammies the lead against the tsunami of play.

The ‘pies were straight back on the attack after this sucker punch and barely let the opposition touch in for the next 14 minutes, but other than Alassana Jatta adding his name to the list of County players to miss golden chances they were able to offer little in the final third.

Having seen him team dominate the first half but still go in trailing Maynard acted decisively at the break, replacing the ineffective Chicksen with Jim O’Brien.

With O’Brien on the right and Jones switched the left flank County were able to create almost instant results. After Jones had danced past the entire Salford team only to curve his shot within atoms of the right post, it was left to Dan Crowley to provide the equaliser the whole stadium had been waiting for.

When the goal finally came for County it was the result of a pass from Langstaff that was deflected to the feet of Crowley, who smashed it home.

One person who failed to feel the euphoria of the equaliser was Salford’s number 9 and Callum Hendry would actually find his way into the ref’s book for his protests, he was subbed off with 20 minutes to go to prevent his frustration from adding to his yellow.

He was lucky not to be sent down the tunnel before the hour mark after catching Slocombe with his studs chasing down a weak back pass.

Taking confidence from this County were all over their visitors for the rest of the game and other than a couple of hairy moments caused by more wayward passes back to Slocombe they were unruffled for the rest of the half… till they were hit with the ultimate sucker punch with 3 minutes of normal time remaining.

Jones was once again the biggest threat County possessed and in the final 10 he whipped a ball across the box of such quality it was a miracle of biblical proportions that no-one else in black and white could provide the telling touch.

After battering on the door for 42 minutes without finding the weak spot that would let them break through, during which time Scott Robinson picked up a yellow as his frustration at seeing his teammates fail constantly in the final third, it was the visitors who would snatch the 3 points at the death.

It was the simplest of route one goals that would prove to be the ‘pies undoing.

A simple ball over the top landed at the feet of McAleny and he slid it under Slocombe to break every black and white heart in the lane. It was a lovely way for him to grab his brace, but way too simple for a Sunday league team to concede, let alone the oldest pros in the 92.

The despair that engulfed my soul on seeing that ball ripple the net is impossible to overstate.

Having seen the team I had dreamed of watching for 2 decades make the field their playground for the full 90, playing Salford off the pitch for vast periods of the match, only to now have to witness them lose was devastating.

I was still in a state of shock when the ref blew his whistle a full 10 minutes later, with County failing to grasp the opportunity to grab a second equaliser in the 7 added minutes gifted to them by City’s constant time-wasting, and it was only thanks to following the flow of fellow fans that I found my way back to the train station.

This unbelievable day and the insane result of an incredible match shows both the beauty and the heartbreak that football can provide.

It is the shining example of what so many the world over love this sublime sport where for 2 hours thousands join in an act of worship that shuts off the worries lurking back in the real world.

Best of all for me though, it is an item ticked off my bucket list and the result means I will have to come back sometime just to see Notts County get the win they deserved.