Promotion still could happen, we were told.
What was still teething though was the Magpies' form at Meadow Lane. A record of three defeats and two draws on home turf did not bode well for a side thought of as promotion candidates before the season opened.
So, all the talk was of the home hoodoo being broken at home to Leyton Orient. All began well when a dubious penalty award saw Julien Baudet slotting home his second spot-kick of the campaign, but that proved to be Notts' only effort on target all game and they proceeded to be played off the park by an excellent Orient outfit.
Goals from Gary Alexander and Luke Steele condemned the Magpies to defeat, and cries from the terraces for Mills to make his exit began.
|
The week though, proved to be all about Mills - with debates raging on the NCM messageboard as to whether it was time for him to be handed his P45.
It wasn't just on the NCM messageboard where such matters were being discussed though, as on the 5th of the month director Steve Thompson publically gave Mills a vote of confidence, whilst handing him a strict warning in the process, saying that results needed to be improved.
The under-fire manager was offered some brief respite though, when Notts defeated high-flying Maccesfield Town in their own backyard to earn a 2-1 victory.
A double from on-form Glynn Hurst sealed the victory. The win also saw Notts lay claim - albeit briefly - to the best away record in the league.
The week following on from the win at Maccesfield saw further transition in both the on and off field ranks at Meadow Lane.
Loanees Youssef Sofiane and Craig Pead returned to their clubs - largely for financial reasons - as did the woeful Marvin Robinson the week before.
On-form goalkeeper Wayne Henderson was also forced to abrubtly cut short his loan at the club, due to parent club Aston Villa's goalkeeping crisis.
|
The next game, meanwhile, came in the form of a huge local derby at Mansfield Town. All the talk leading up to the game had been of Notts' excellent away record, which had supposedly led them to believe that they would defeat playoff-chasing Mansfield at Field Mill.
However, Notts turned in one of their worst displays in recent years to be demolished 3-1. The defeat would and should have been much, much worse had it not been for some splendid goalkeeping by Saul Deeney.
After the game - and throughout the second half - Notts fans were plain in making their feelings towards under-fire boss Mills clear, with NCM ourselves - for the first time - supporting the 'Mills out' campaign.
Mills, however, was not to be moved, and instead set about clearing out some of his vastly underacheiving squad, transfer listing captain Mike Whitlow, midfielder Matt Gill and fans' favourite David Pipe in a gesture that smacked of desperation.
To his credit though, the 44-year-old was able to re-unite his squad following the Mansfield debacle, as the Magpies turned in two decent home displays inside a week.
First, another Hurst goal saw County take a 1-1 draw at home to Darlington in a much improved display, before the Magpies finally secured their first home win of the campaign at the eighth attempt with a 2-1 win over Boston United.
The victory came courtesy of goals from the much-improved Gavin Gordon and a stunner from Chris Palmer- who'd recently returned from a three-month injury layoff, along with Stefan Oakes, who was also instrumental in the win.
News to follow in the wake of the win was that on-loan Nottingham-born striker Chris O'Grady was to extend his stay for a further two months.
O'Grady had been used mainly as a substitute, but the 18-year-old had shown a good touch and looked well worthy of the extra two months. Ironically though, he was to get few look-ins past this point.
Meanwhile, whilst O'Grady was receiving good news, a fellow Notts striker - Steve Scoffham - was receiving bad. The former Gedling frontman had broken his leg on the last day of the previous season and looked set for a comeback.
That is, until a fall in his newly-refurbished kitchen led to the hitman being ruled out for a minimum of a further two months. As it turned out, the 21-year-old wouldn't return until March.
|
After the two much-improved displays already spoken of, Notts travelled to struggling Rushden & Diamonds in high spirits, with that plan of climbing the table again lying high on the agenda.
However, a dreadful 5-1 defeat against a side who had been badly struggling at home all season - and eventually finished 22nd in the table - followed, with the Magpies travelling support understandably livid at what they had witnessed.
The majority of their anger was expectedly placed at the door of Mills, who had previously blamed the supporters themselves for his side's misdemeanours. The mis-firing manager had angered supporters by naming the woeful Gill as a right back in-place of Pipe, who came off the bench to score the Magpies' consolation.
Gill himself also bore some of the Notts' fans anger, with the midfielder's performance so bad it prompted the NCM match reporter from the game to say: "Gill, who played like the last kid to be picked at school, needed to be substituted and hopefully fired out of a cannon."
The report also was to state: "The centre-backs were so useless in thwarting attacks that we may as well have played a packet of crisps and a load of Soreen there; Gill has consistently proved how bad he is, yet hung on to his right-back spot for two-thirds of the game without making a single tackle; the tactics, which were shown to be worthless in under twenty seconds, remained untouched for the entire first half."
It was an afternoon that really was THAT bad. A truly dark day for Notts County and one that looked certain to lead to the removal of Mills.
And in early November, the Notts manager was told that his time was up, with supporter pressure proving the deciding factor.
The defeat also left Notts 21st in League Two, just five points clear of the relegation zone.
|
For the continuation of our season review, check back to NCM in the coming days.