One of the great lessons that football fans must learn over the years is that it's wise never to try and draw any conclusions from pre-season, but the Meadow Lane faithful will have been encouraged by what they saw on Saturday as two Lee Hughes goals saw Notts beat Championship side Cardiff City 2-1. A strong Bluebirds side was put out by Dave Jones, including the likes of Michael Chopra and Peter Whittingham, whilst Craig Short put out his first choice striker pairing of Lee Hughes and Ben Burgess, whilst Stuart Nelson was handed a start in goal. New signing Liam Chilvers started at centre back, whilst John Spicer also played in midfield, with Neal Bishop given a rest.
Notts started at a faster pace than their visitors and could've been ahead early on when a whipped corner by Ben Davies was headed narrowly over by Burgess, whilst Michael Chopra hit two long range efforts that posed no real threat to Nelson. Burgess again had a chance to put the Magpies infront soon after, but good work from Lee Hughes was wasted as Burgess headed his cross wide of the far post. However, the two were to combine to greater effect from the resulting goal kick as Cardiff goalkeeper David Marshall made a howler that would be a mainstay on Christmas DVDs had it happened in a competitive match. He attempted to pass his goal kick out but succeeded only in giving it to Burgess, who calmly played in Hughes to slot home his first goal of the pre-season campaign.
The visitors were looking frustrated on a warm day at Meadow Lane, which was typified by Chris Burke who fired over the bar from range after being presented with a lack of options by his teammates. This frustration was to multiply soon after as Notts doubled their lead with a fine passing move. An inch perfect tackle by Ricky Ravenhill dispossessed Chopra and played the ball to Burgess, who played an inch perfect through ball to Jon Harley who got away from his marker to square the ball to Hughes, who tapped it into the empty net to cap an excellent goal for the Magpies. The first half fizzled out somewhat after that, but Notts were thoroughly deserving of their lead at the break.
As on Thursday against Stoke, changes were made at half time as Krystian Pearce and Craig Westcarr were given a chance to impress for Notts. A chance Westcarr took early on as a good run and sweet cross from the right hand flank found Hughes, who improvised to turn an overhead kick narrowly wide of the post. Hughes was involved in everything good about Notts and Burgess headed his deep cross over the bar as the Magpies threatened a third goal. Cardiff had posed little threat all afternoon but they did show their quality on one occasion and it led to a goal as Ross McCormack latched onto a through ball and fired past Nelson, who will feel he should've done better. Further changes were made by both teams, which killed the game as a spectacle somewhat, but Chopra nearly levelled for Cardiff late on as he beat Stuart Nelson, but Pearce did well to clear the ball off the line.
Notts County 2 (Hughes '28, '43)
Cardiff City 1 (McCormack '61)
Attendance - 2,490
Notts Co - Nelson, Thompson (Obed), Chilvers, Edwards (Pearce), Hunt (Westcarr). Davies, Spicer, Ravenhill, Harley, Hughes (Gillespie), Burgess (Hawley)
Cardiff City - Marshall (Heaton), Blake (Matthews), Gyepes (Hudson), Gerrard, McNaughton, Whittingham, McPhail, Drinkwater, Burke (Rae), Chopra, McCormack (Jarvis)