The NCM Yearbook - August

Last updated : 31 May 2012 By Jacob Daniel

Seems a lifetime ago, doesn't it? We may not have the same manager as we did back in the season's first optimistic, sun-drenched month (but when have we ever!?!), but that is where the 2011/12 season began and it deserves just as much whimsical description and cynical pillorying as the more recent, Judge-inspired weeks of happiness. It all began at Carlisle, as north as it is possible to get in the Football League, as Notts found themselves in the middle of an appropriate August storm. It hadn't been the greatest of summers, to be honest. We'd tried and failed to sign more strikers than NCM can bring ourselves to try and remember, been played off the park by such footballing giants as Hinckley United and Corby Town in pre-season and everyone seemed to be gearing themselves up for another relegation battle.

It was this that made the biblical downpour and freezing conditions at Brunton Park seem so poignant - a pathetic fallacy to perfectly encapsulate the anguish that was to come. Then the football started - and it all sort of changed. Lee Hughes barged Peter Murphy in the face, ran after the ball and crossed for Jeff Hughes to poke Notts into the lead, the drowned rats hidden away in the corner exploded into celebration and everything seemed just fine again. Francois Zoko's bullet header of an own goal and a Lee Hughes finish gave Notts an opening day 3-0 win at a ground on which a result is notoriously hard to come by. It made us all look a bit stupid, really. Not for the first time this season, either, but we'll come to that in a bit.

Next up was a somewhat shorter trip - not by car, train or plane - but on foot over the Trent to play our dearest neighbours for the first time in nigh on twenty years. To be honest, the whole atmosphere of that night was a bit weird. London was still being doused by Fireman Sam, whilst some idiots were hoping to achieve something or other by throwing petrol bombs at a police station down the road from the City Ground. It was a weird setting for a local derby, but from the moment kick-off passed it was hard to remember that there was a world outside of the utterly absorbing game of football that was unfolding infront of our eyes. Mike Edwards prodded Notts into the league and Lewis McGugan equalised with an absolutely sublime free kick to make things level at half time, but that was no indication of the drama that was to come. Robbie Findley's tame shot went through Stuart Nelson to give the hosts the lead, but substitute Craig Westcarr's delightful half volley, his last goal for the club, levelled things up again. Running the entire length of the pitch to goad his former fans, Westcarr had lit the blue touch paper and the game exploded into a fast paced, aggressive, brilliant spectacle. Extra time came and Lee Hughes curled a beautiful shot home to send the 6,000 travelling Notts fans into ecstasy, but there was still time for what was one of the most ridiculous moment i've ever seen at a football match.

Now, i'm not here to criticise Wes Morgan. He is an excellent defender, but one of the last words i'd use to describe him would be 'cultured'. I imagine that every other goal he has ever scored has been a header from a corner. So, when Forest's last hope of a shot on goal bounced towards big Wes thirty yards out, I can't say I was really sweating too much. It would then, be just our luck that he smashed one of the goals of the season into the top corner on the half volley. I don't know if anyone has seen the episode of The Simpsons when Homer runs over Springfield's star quarterback and his leg falls off, but the severed limb still manages to kick the winning point. It was a bit like that - he didn't so much kick the ball as swing his leg at it like a golf club. We could've won on penalties, but Bencherif, Lee Hughes and Bishop all hit the same bloke in the top tier of the Trent End and we missed out on a riveting second round trip to Wycombe Wanderers. Devastating.

So, it was back to the loborious chore of League One football, and a home defeat to eventual champions Charlton Athletic. In truth, they were a little bit good for us and we still looked knackered from the League Cup game. Paul Hayes scored twice and Charlton generally looked like the pretty useful side they turned out to be. Next up were Tranmere Rovers, in the sort of dramatic game that ended up just about defining the season. Notts fell behind, then equalised and took the lead through an absolute stunning volley by Julian Kelly. The visitors equalised and set about time wasting, hacking and kicking their way to a point, only to come unstuck in an amusing six minutes of injury time. Firstly, David Raven was sent off for a second yellow card and then, after the ball pinged about for a bit, David Buchanan made a stunning one-handed save from Alan Sheehan's long range shot. Only, he wasn't the goalkeeper and was sent off too, allowing Jeff Hughes to win it from the spot. 

Successive defeats rounded the month off, however, leaving Notts with six points from their first five games. Defeat at Sheffield Wednesday was fairly routine, although Jeff Hughes did give us the lead with an early penalty, but things at Preston were far more strange. NCM wasn't there, we were running around a field in Yorkshire armed with nothing more than a can of warm lager in each hand. However, we weren't too impressed to learn that Iain sodding Turner, the Preston goalkeeper, had scored the decisive goal for the hosts. As it turned out, he'd launched a goal kick from the edge of his own area that Stuart Nelson somehow contrived to allow to bounce over his head and into the net. Never dull, is it?