Previous final day showdown's

Last updated : 03 May 2004 By Ralphy Shepherd

For the past few seasons Notts have had mostly joyous final matches of the season. The last three were all played at Meadow Lane and Notts have come out victorious in all of them.

Last season
Cheltenham Town was the opposition and they needed a win to keep them up. However, Notts were not ready to lie down and hand Cheltenham the win they desperately needed, instead the Magpies went on to win 1-0 with Danny Allsopp scoring his last goal for the club before leaving for Hull City, in front of 9,710 fans – the second highest attendance at t’Lane that season – after over 10,000 had watched the Stags match, earlier in the season.
Sadly
Cheltenham
were relegated after this result, missing survival by a mere 2 points, and keeping Chesterfield up in the process.

Who could forget the thrilling
Huddersfield Town match at t’Lane in May 2002? This match undoubtedly will go down as one of the most exciting and memorable games for the Notts fans since the Sheep and Trees visited in the 93/94 season.
The Great Escape was completed. The atmosphere was crazy, the then chairman Albert Scardino was singing the Wheel Barrow song in Z-Block before the game and past legends came to show their support in a bumper crowd of 15,618.

Legendary ex-manager, perhaps arguably the best manager ever - Jimmy Sirrell was one of those greats present along with Sir Don Masson, Jack Wheeler and even Darren Ward(!).

Aussie striker Danny Allsopp scored the vital first from a Richard Liburd cross and some fantastic work from Jeff Whitley set up Kevin Nicholson's drive into the bottom corner. No-one will ever forget that goal.

Nicho celebrates 'that' wonder goal

The run in to this match had seen Notts conjure up 23 points out of 33, with the big Aussie scoring 11 in 11 matches.


The 2000/01 season saw Notts miss out on the play-offs by 4 points. The already relegated Oxford United were the opposition and Notts ran out 2-1 winners with Mark Stallard's deflected free-kick and the Frenchman David Joseph ( what ever happened to him?! ) getting on the score sheet.
Notts’ loss of form at the back end of the 99/00 season saw them only pick up 2 points from the last 8 games, hardly playoff material. One of these points came at home against Bury with make shift striker Alex Dyer and Stallard scoring in the 2-2 draw.


The last time the Magpies lost on the final day was when
Gillingham visited t’Lane. Carl Asaboa's finish made sure the Gills got to the play-offs  in what was a pretty dire game.
This was Tony Pullis' last league match as he resigned after the play-off final loss against
Man City
, 3-1 on penalties with Nicky Weaver being the hero for City.

But in 97/98, it was....Championeees!! Notts were finally awarded the Division 3 trophy on the last day of the great season that was 97/98.

There was a feeling like that of a carnival atmosphere with a band, men on stilts and Parachutist flying down onto the
Meadow Lane pitch. The trophy was given before the match with the then captain, Ian Hendon lifting it in front of a jubilant home crowd.

Notts then gave a cracking performance with knocking 5 past
Rotherham
. The striking partnership of Jones (31, 73) and Farrell (75) doing the damage. Dennis Pearce and Phil Robinson scored the other two in a 5-2 drubbing.
The Magpies celebrate winning the Division Three title
After the match, the
Notts County
squad then paraded the trophy on a lap of honour in front of crowd of 12,430.

The last time Notts were away from home on the last day was in the 96/97 season when Notts made the short distance to Saltergate.

By such time Notts had already been relegated and the team didn’t give the Notts faithful any hope on the last game, losing 1-0.

Throughout the whole of the 96/97 season Notts only managed to win 7 games all season with Own Goals (3) being the second top scorer .

Notts were away to
Chesterfield the season before that too (95/96) and found themselves with the same result, again losing 1-0 to the Spirites.
This time the season was a bit more fruitful. Devon White finished top goal scorer with 8 goals which took Notts to the Play-offs.
Gary Martindale did the damage in the semi-finals versus
Crewe, scoring in both legs. Sadly Bradford City
were more up for it in the final with Notts putting out a lacklustre performance.
Mark Stallard scored the second for City who came out 2-0 winner’s in-front of over 40,000.

Gary McSwegan scored his final goal for the club in a 1-1 draw away from home against Port Vale in the 94/95 season.
Notts were relegated to Division 2 that season but still ended up at Wembley. The Magpies went to the final of the Anglo Italian Cup Final in-front of 12,000 fans.
Ascoli, the Seria B team were the opponents. German World Cup Player Oliver Bierhoff played against Notts.
Notts triumphantly won 2-1 with Bruno and Tony Agana scoring. That season also included the now manager of Notts – Gary Mills' last game for the club and a superb win over another German, Jurgen Klinsman.
Spurs came to the lane with Gary McSwegan scoring twice and Notts wining 3-0 in-front of over 16,000 fans.


Ten years ago this Saturday Notts were away to
Oxford losing 2-1 on a very sandy pitch. Notts finished 7th, 3 points off the Play-offs.

Some fans blame Meindert Djakstra – the Dutchman who put through his own net at the now disused Baseball ground.
That season was a great one though for the faithful with big wins against
Derby 4-1 – Mcswegan hat-trick, Trees 2-1 Sir Charlie Palmer and another trip to the home of English football – Wembley Stadium – losing out this time to Brescia
.

I hope this gives you a taste for Saturday; will Notts carry on the record and win on the last day at home again?

What will happen to Notts on the final day next year? Will we be booking our tickets to
Cardiff or Burton?