The Magpies booked their ticket to the Carling Cup second round after valiantly coming away victors after a gruelling bout of penalties battle against the frustrated First Division outfit, Preston North End.
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After that unforgettable 5-0 flogging against the Robins of Bristol City the
Notts fielded a new look line-up, who appeared for the time in their royal blue away kit, with Stephen Mildenhall replacing the poor Stuart Garden between the sticks and the introduction of Ireland Under-21 international, Paul Heffernan, in the place of Paul Bolland.
As Notts got the game underway they looked slightly unsettled, however, as the match began to mature so did County’s style of play as they moved the ball round well after an early opportunity for Richard Cresswell was well cleared from a none too hesitant Mildenhall who careered off his line to eliminate the threat.
Soon after, a Clive Platt header sailed narrowly over the bar from a Kevin Nicholson cross, whilst minutes later Stephen Mildehall was again called into
action when he denied Richard Cresswell the glory for a second time.
After a while North End began to stir up some attractive passing football consisting of one-twos and cross pitch lobs of which carried on in 13-16 consistent instances before Michael Keane blazed his headed effort soundly over the bar.
Despite the fact that the Lilly-whites were handed most of the chances, the Magpies still looked capable of holding their own, if not pushing to snatch something from the game, with a defence who looked to be ruling with an iron fist at the back as the continuously put the dampers on North End’s efforts – and when the defence eventually did let any of Preston’s passes filter through the net their was the ever reliable Steve Mildenhall on hand to scupper their efforts. As well as our two trustworthy as Ian Baraclough and Ian Richardson, who once again did their bit at the back.
The Magpie’s determination was so very nearly rewarded via a goal mouth scramble which saw
Late on in the half saw Michael Keane once more finding the Magpies ‘keeper, Stephen Mildenhall, at the top of his game when he made an exceptional save as he tipped the North End midfielder’s effort round the post. The resulting corner saw Ricardo Fuller get the better of the Notts defender before Mildenhall again rush out to foil the attack with his shins.
HALF TIME:
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The 55th minute saw Mark Stallard shoot well off target before Michael Jackson was booked for a painful looking tackle on the Notts no. 9.
Soon after saw Dearden introduce Paul Bolland into the fray in the place of the ever committed Welsh under-21 starlet, Michael Brough.
As the half went on it became apparent that Notts were settling down as the defended as a unit with the whole both the defence and midfield tracking back to defend before bursting forward on the counter-attack, and after Heffernan had slipped a ball through for Stallard he felt the heat and thus losing his composure.
It looked as though Notts efforts were in vain when a North End shot rifled past the Notts ‘stopper but fortunately for the Magpies rocketed of the inside off the post and firing dubiously across the face of goal leaving the big man to look on in disarray as the danger cleared itself.
After both Tyrone Mears and David Healy were brought on for Preston, Notts were pushed right back in the dying moments of normal time, which saw County battle fire with fire as we stuck every last man behind the ball.
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Notts had hung in for 90 minutes and looked at some points to be dominating the First Division side, who were beaten 2-1 by the newly relegated West Ham on the opening day of the 2003/04 campaign.
Again the Magpies looked doomed as North End piled on the pressure before Mears sliced his shot leaving David Healy to rifle his shot over the bar before Mildenhall again saved Notts when the 6”4 stop-stopper tipped the ball over one again.
Dearden decided to call it a day for Clive Platt whose height leaves the big man head and shoulders above the pack, literally. The big man never gave any away in the air as he was continuously marked by two or more Lilly-white defenders but he still prevailed. Tony Hackworth replaced Platt as again we put up a resolute resistance to North End, however, it could all so easily have been lost in the dieing moments of the game when another goal mouth scramble left Notts to the bare bones and when a shot deflected up, up, up into the air there was only ever going to be one man to come away – you guessed it, Mildehall.
END OF EXTRA TIME:
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First of all though it has to be said that all the players who we may have had doubts over missing have been off loaded during the close season so at least I was quietly confident.
Notts were handed the responsibility of taking the first penalty, and it seemed inevitable of to who was to take the first, Mark Stallard.
The shoot out (Notts takers only) goes as follows;
Stallard – scores
Hackworth – scores
Fenton – scores
Baraclough – scores
Nicholson – scores
Heffernan – scores
Barras – scores
Due to the fact that the scores were now 7-6 to Notts after each of the penalties were slotted home, it would have almost given the