It was never going to be a pretty game and sure enough, it wasn't. In fact, the first half was probably the worst 45 minutes of football played under Gary Mills' leadership.
Changes needed to be made after Tuesday night’s no-show, and they were. Matt Williams recruited from Manchester United in mid-week was the first, as he nudged out Steve Scoffham from the Starting XI. Simon Baldry and Darren Caskey both surrender starting places to Andy Parkinson, marking his return to the ‘Lane of course today, and Tony Scully, respectively.
The first half of the contest was played under difficult circumstances in which both teams struggled to find their way as they quality of the game fell foul of the perilous conditions.
No single incident illustrated exactly how strong the wind was rolling around the Lane than a Steve Blatherwick clearance that literally turned right round before falling into the stands behind where the clearance was attempted.
Bar that, very, very little happened during first half - nothing worth a mention that is.
Andy Parkinson’s return was a troublesome one throughout the first-half as the wind took the ball beyond his reach on numerous occasions whilst Pegguy Arphexad had the heart’s of Notts fans doing somersaults when he twice came close to being left with egg on his face, foolishly trying to round on oncoming Spireites player.
In fact, the first of just two Notts chances of the half fell to Stefan Oakes after 36 minutes, and even he could only drag a shot wide of the mark.
The second, an Andy Parkinson effort seven minutes later which fell into the waiting arms of Muggleton.
Half Time:
With Notts facing the prospect of the wind being against after a fruitless first half, the game found its feet for the first time.
If anyone looked capable of drawing first-blood, then it was Notts - and even then they just edged it.
A brilliant Stefan Oakes corner from the right dipped beautifully underneath the cross-bar onto the head of Nick Fenton who rarely misses a header, and this time was to be no exception as the centre back powered his header past Muggelton to the delight of the Magpies faithful.
That corner the first of eight for Notts - all of which fell in the second forty-five minutes of the contest.
Moments later, the cracks of frustration began to show in the
Notts on to the good and
Pegguy Arphexad, however, was to look every bit as shaky as he had throughout the game when he spilled a Mark Allot effort and nearly helped draw Roy McFarland’s side level - fortunately, this was not to be the case as he recovered to collect the ball on the second attempt.
Andy Parkinson used his dazzling pace and silky skills to glide through the Chesterfield rear guard and get a shot away not once, not twice but three times.
In between Parkinson’s one-man show, Stefan Oakes - who looks to be an absolute steal from
On 70 minutes, Paul Heffernan [blocked] and Andy Parkinson [missed] both saw their respective come close but not close enough before Matt Williams, 74 minutes into his Magpies debut, was replaced by Steve Scoffham, a man from the not-so-glamorous
Then, seven minutes later, the moment when all the team’s hard-work went to pot.
A Steve Blatherwick flick-on from a set-piece left Ian Richardson looking, more out of expectation than anything, for a call or collection from Pegguy
Arphexad. A call which never came and left Richo with no choice but to beat it somewhere, anywhere but not THERE.
The Notts skipper found the top corner of the net for his third own goal of the season, and one which, surely, was the softest Gary Mills' men have ever conceded.
All level at 1-1 and the visitors had literally clawed themselves back into the game with little over ten minutes remaining.
David Pipe- an absoloute star again- was then withdrawn with a suspected injury. Frazer McHugh replaced him.
Heads dropped and so did County’s standards as the game faded agonisingly away leaving the Notts faithful in despair.
Full Time:
With just 8 games to go now, the situation looks bleak with Brentford, Stockport, Oldham and Wycombe all picking up decent results, which leaves them all piling the pressure on Notts for yet another late, late show.