CREWE ALEXANDRA 1-2 NOTTS COUNTY
POGBA '73 ZOKO '40
ARQUIN '58 (S/O '60)
I've got to say, it was nice to get back to proper football today. As much as I enjoyed watching the Euros, particularly when England weren't playing, and the Olympics were fantastic, there's nothing quite like the first day of the season when the August sun is shining like the optimism of every fan in the country. Apart from our fans that is, after our pre-season took a turn for the disastrous over the last couple of weeks with Tom Williams marching into the club, Moët and sushi in hand, to single handedly (well, with a little bit of help from Carl Regan) turn our defence into a quivering wreck that was knocked out of the Capital One Cup after a tepid display against Bradford last weekend. So, there was definitely a bit of concern when Williams lined up at centre back alongside Dean Leacock. Happily, Curle had reinstated Julian Kelly at right back, whilst angry, rottweiler Teesside types Gary Liddle and Neal Bishop partnered each other in midfield. Goalscoring was left on the combined shoulders of our enigmatic Frenchmen, Francois Zoko and Yoann Arquin, along with Alan Judge and Jeff Hughes. For Crewe, there were league debuts for Gregor Robertson at left back, Mark Ellis in the centre of the defence, Abdul Osman in midfield and man mountain Mathias Pogba on the left wing.
With Notts looking like Barnet's parent club in their amber and black hoops, the visitors seemed to start in the sort of fashion you'd expect from the real bees. Crewe had their tails up and attacked early on, with Max Clayton edging his way in behind Williams but finding himself closed down well by Bartosz Bialkowski and failing to get enough purchase on the lob. The big Pole had to be at his best a moment later, pushing away a well struck effort by Clayton from the edge of the box. Bizarrely though, the momentum shifted when a Notts player got injured - Williams feeling the effect of a week's worth of all you can eat chicken wings. Crumpling to a heap with no player in the same half of the pitch, it perhaps exposed the folly of playing, or indeed signing, someone who'd gone a year without a competitive appearance. Joss Labadie came on in his place, with Gary Liddle slotting back into defence alongside Leacock. With Liddle's composure on the ball at the back, Notts immediately began to control possession and stop Crewe causing any more problems, at least after Bialkowski had beaten away a Pogba shot after the big man brought down a long diagonal pass with a sublime touch.
Notts had started to build from the back and probe a shaky looking Crewe defence, with Jeff Hughes heading over the bar and Alan Judge thwacking one of his trademark piledrivers a foot or so wide of the far post. With more and more possession coming the Magpies' way, the opener always seemed likely from Keith Curle's side, and came after the best passing move of the match. Zipping the ball around midfield, a neat one-touch interchange between Kelly and Judge saw the Notts full back find the space to whip in a teasing cross, which both Crewe centre backs decided to ignore, allowing Francois Zoko to volley in a debut goal at the far post. Probably undeserved considering the early Crewe pressure, but a reflection of the dominance Notts had begun to find since Liddle's switch to defence.
Much the same pattern continued up until the break, but the hosts started the second period strongly as some hesitant defending from Neal Bishop saw the ball fall to Max Clayton, but his shot from eight yards was cleared off the line by the well-placed Alan Sheehan. Despite this scare, Notts still seemed in control, and nearly doubled their lead when a quick break saw Judge release Arquin, who cut inside and curled a shot wide of the far post. From an almost identical situation moments later, however, the Frenchman did get his goal. Notts broke quickly, allowing Arquin to sweep a one-touch pass down the right flank for Judge, who cut the ball back into the Frenchman's path, allowing him to slot it beyond Martin and into the bottom corner. Arquin then decided it was a reasonable idea to celebrate his debut goal by getting sent off after a pointless incident in the corner involving Ashley Westwood, a man who has serious issues. As a bit of background, Westwood is the braindead character who descended into a sort of fit of playground rage last time we visited Gresty Road, trying to beat several shades out of Luke Rodgers before running away and crying. I actually watched Crewe this pre-season, in a friendly game against Evo-Stik league side Quorn, during which Westwood lead by example as captain by spending the entire game swearing at the referee for the temerity to give a free-kick against him in a leisurely kickabout. So yeah, the two tangled on the touchline, Arquin kicked out a bit in a sort of David Beckham against Argentina in '98 style, with Westwood keeping his part of the Diego Simeone bargain, diving to the ground like he'd just been zapped by one of Zeus' cartoon lightning bolts. But still, Arquin can't have too many complaints at being sent off.
This gave Notts the excuse they needed to defend, with sitting deep and time wasting away from home with ten men being sort of like a footballing gag reflex - it really isn't pleasant and you hate yourself for doing it, but it's totally necessary. Lee Hughes came on for Zoko, but could only watch as Pogba headed in a Westwood corner at the far post as Bialkowski treaded imaginary water in his six yard box. Crewe lacked imagination though and Notts soon worked out that their main plan consisted of passing it between the defenders a few times then lumping it in the vague direction of Pogba - who is so big that it did nearly work a few times. Notts came close to scoring on the break, Julian Kelly avoiding a couple of Cameroon vs. Argentina style wild attempts at tackles before playing in Judge, who saw Martin save his shot and Jeff Hughes' follow up. The final big moment came in injury time, as the ball agonisingly squirmed towards Westwood on the edge of the box, but his firmly struck low shot was brilliantly cleared off the line by Lee Hughes. That was that, and it has to go down as an absolutely superb first day vistory, particularly considering the circumstances. For an hour we were excellent and pretty much in complete control, it was a bit edgy after that but Notts defended well and deserved their win. So everyone can forget about that Wilson lad, or whatever his name is.