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One for sorrow, two for joy: Notts County (h) factfile
Various
5 February 2010
Know your enemy
Town's record against...
Their facts and figures
Our facts and figures
Refwatch
Wanna bet?
Travel guide
In a nutshell
Notts County. What is there to say that wasn't said for the postponed away game during Christmas? Not a lot really. Maybe it's just jealousy above everything else. Which fan wouldn't want to enjoy the feeling of your club splashing the cash about willy-nilly?
It's those players brought in during the summer spend-a-thon – Lee Hughes (18 bloody league goals!) and Ben Davies – that are firing in the goals to maintain a position in the play-offs, although don't discount the contributions from the likes of Richard Ravenhill and John Thompson.
Where the club would be without their managerial upheaval is open to debate. So far this term they've lost two managers by the middle of December – Ian McParland sacked and Hans Backe resigned – handing Dave Kevan his second spell as caretaker manager. To be fair Kevan has done well, leading the Magpies to three out of three league victories, and has presided over the Magpies' FA Cup fourth round results against Wigan: winning a replay in the land of pies 2-0, after sharing four goals at Meadow Lane previously.
Off the pitch, a takeover of the club by a group of local businessmen failed this week leaving the club's position, as ever, uncertain. However, on form it doesn't seem to be affecting the players, which must be the biggest worry for Town.
On t'internet
For all their long history, Notts County are pretty quiet as far as independent, fan-run websites go. The supporters' trust is about all we can find, and its site doesn't seem to have been updated since the end of October. Mind you, if we'd just flogged our club into chaos and national laughing stock status for £1 and thus sold out all our fellow supporters who'd put money into the club to save it from going under, we'd probably be keeping fairly quiet as well.
Overall record: Overall record: P66 W28 D15 L23 F93 A93
At Blundell Park: P33 W18 D10 L5 F58 A37
At their place: P33 W10 D5 L18 F35 A56
Full details in the results database
Previous encounter: 13 April 2009
One of the less rubbish days for Town fans since our failure in the 2006 play-off final was the 2-0 win at Meadow Lane last season, which wasn't enough in itself to preserve the Mariners' status in the Football League but represented an enormous step forward towards that goal. An ill-advised 4-3-3 system put Mike Newell's team on the rack in the first half and only a glorious display from Wayne Henderson in Town's goal kept it goalless. Their formation corrected, the visitors poured forward after the break, roared on by a huge travelling support, and Rob Atkinson – in his best performance in a Grimsby shirt to date – headed in from Peter Sweeney's corner on 52 minutes. Half an hour later a lovely through ball from Barry Fucking Conlon set up Danny Boshell for a decider, initially disallowed for offside but then awarded after lengthy discussions between ref and lino. It felt like we were finally getting the edge over Chester at the bottom, and sure enough we were.
Tony Butcher's match report
Last six meetings, home and away
W Notts C 0-2 Grimsby (fourth division, 13/04/2009)
L Grimsby 0-1 Notts C (fourth division, 26/12/2008)
D Notts C 1-1 Grimsby (fourth division, 02/02/2008)
D Grimsby 1-1 Notts C (fourth division, 11/08/2007)
L Notts C 2-0 Grimsby (fourth division, 31/03/2007)
L Grimsby 0-2 Notts C (fourth division, 21/10/2006)
Last six meetings at our place
L Grimsby 0-1 Notts C (fourth division, 26/12/2008)
D Grimsby 1-1 Notts C (fourth division, 11/08/2007)
L Grimsby 0-2 Notts C (fourth division, 21/10/2006)
W Grimsby 4-0 Notts C (fourth division, 27/09/2005)
W Grimsby 3-2 Notts C (fourth division, 07/12/2004)
W Grimsby 2-0 Notts C (third division, 21/10/2003)
How you doin'?
5th in the fourth division: P24 W12 D7 L5 F52 A21 (GD31) 43pts
In league with...
4th Rotherham 45pts
5th Notts C 43pts
6th Shrewsbury 42pts
Recent form
9 points from 9
W Burton 1-4 Notts C (fourth division, 28/12/2009)
W Notts C 2-1 Forest Green (FA Cup, 19/01/2010)
D Notts C 2-2 Wigan (FA Cup, 23/01/2010)
W Dagenham 0-3 Notts C (fourth division, 26/01/2010)
W Notts C 2-0 Barnet (fourth division, 30/01/2010)
W Wigan 0-2 Notts C (FA Cup, 02/02/2010)
Goalscoring superstar heroes
Lee Hughes (21 goals, 18 in the league)
Ben Davies (7 goals, 6 in the league)
Luke Rodgers (6 goals, all in the league)
Dirty, dirty boys
Lee Hughes (7 yellows; 7 points)
Graeme Lee (4 yellows, 1 red; 6 points)
Mike Edwards (6 yellows; 6 points)
Stats!
Only 5 other teams in the four top flights have a goal difference better than Notts County's +31: Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal, Norwich, and Rochdale
The Magpies have the tightest defence in the division, conceding only 21 goals so far this season
How we doin'?
23rd in the fourth division: P27 W3 D11 L13 F20 A41 (GD-21) 20pts
Revolution number 273
In league with...
22nd Cheltenham 25pts
23rd Grimsby 20pts
24th Darlington 11pts
Recent form
4 points from 18
D Grimsby 1-1 Morecambe (fourth division, 18/12/2009)
L Grimsby 1-2 Port Vale (fourth division, 28/12/2009)
D Grimsby 1-1 Bury (fourth division, 02/01/2010)
d Grimsby 0-0 Bury (fourth division, 16/01/2010)
L Rotherham 2-1 Grimsby (fourth division, 23/01/2010)
D Aldershot 1-1 Grimsby (fourth division, 30/01/2010)
Goalscoring superstar heroes
Peter Sweeney (6 goals, 4 in the league)
Barry Fucking Conlon (5 goals, all in the league)
Dirty, dirty boys
Peter Sweeney (8 yellows; 8 points)
Danny Boshell (3 yellows, 2 reds; 7 points)
Barry Fucking Conlon (1 yellow, 2 reds; 5 points)
Adam Proudlock (3 yellows, 1 red; 5 points)
Paul Linwood (5 yellows; 5 points)
Referee for this weekend is Mr Mick Russell of Hertforshire. Mr Russell is thankfully very experienced – currently in his sixth season as a Football League referee. Last season he handed out 57 yellow and four red cards in 28 games. That's around two yellows per game and a red every seven matches, which puts him around the average mark for this level.
Recent encounters with Micky boy have been fairly positive. He oversaw the wonderful 4-2 drubbing of Chesterfield a couple of seasons ago, awarding Town two penalties in the process (which we actually only went and bloody well scored). Our reporter, Tony Butcher, was so enthused he practically gushed that Mr Russell "was intelligent" and "didn't make any decisions that adversely impacted upon Town". Incidentally, only Atkinson, Bore and Hegarty survive from the team who played that day.
Previous to that, Tony had felt "supremely indifferent to Mr Russell" in the away draw at Macclesfield at the end of the 2005-06 season (you know, the season we threw it all away). Some warning though from the draw at Boston in 2004-05 where Tony felt he was "weak, weak, weak, weak, weak", but let's be fair and assume the experienced he has gained since then has transformed him in to a competent ref.
Mr Russell is founder member of the Hertforshire Squirrel Watching Association, and has held the position of club secretary since its inception in 2003.
In summary, then: intelligent
The odds
Town 4/1 (Bet365, Coral)
draw 5/2 (general)
Notts C 4/5 (various)
The ratings
Notts C 816
Town 384
Last week's draw at Rotherham was good for another 19 points on Town's rating but we still remain the lowest rated team in the division. Slowly, slowly, catchee Torquay though, who have slipped back to 386 and Darlo aren't that far ahead of us on 405. Notts County are eighth in the ratings, just in case you were wondering.
But what does all this mean for our chances of bagging the three points we so desperately need? The Mariners have their usual 28% chance of winning while our visitors will walk away victorious around 35% of the time. That means the 4/1 about a home win available at Bet365 and Coral is value while the away side's odds seem too short if our ratings model is to be believed. The draw odds are pretty much bang on and offer no real value but with Town's recent record we'll go for the home win with a cover bet on the draw.
Our record this season
Number of bets placed: 26
Number of bets spot on: 9
Precision factor: 35%
Our gaff: Internet Football Ground Guide
Get there by car: Google Map directions
Gaining entrance: The usual
Nearest train station:Cleethorpes
Weather in the area: Met Office
The number of people with whom you can hold personal relationships is limited to about 150 individuals.
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