I travelled to Nottingham in much anticipation as this was probably my last match for the season but left somewhat deflated… and it wasn’t the meat pie either! From various discussions with the faithful before the match consensus was very much for the draw and this seemed eminently achievable, even a win was possible as Notts County had four defeats on the trot.

U’s lined up Walker, David Wright, Garmston, Okuonghae, Wilson, White, Bond, Drey Wright, Morrison, Ibehre, Massey, with JJ and Freddie’s Ears among others in the wings.

I had actually looked out a rather old U’s programme for Durham (I didn’t know he wasn’t going) going back to 30/11/1963, U's at home v Notts County and for that game we lined up with George Ramage, Pat Woods, Johnny Fowler, Roy McCrohan, Keith Rutter, John Docherty, Mike Grice, Bobby Hunt, Martyn (Noddy) King, Billy Stark, Peter Wright. I like to think that this team may actually have given a better account of themselves than did the current side. What a forward line that was! A certain Jeff Astle featured for Notts.

To the match… fifteen minutes of dross during which the referee gave us everything (more on him later). Only thing of interest was from a U's corner the ball came directly to Jabo inside the six yard box and he managed to stoop and direct his header over the bar when he really should have done better. Soon after in Notts County’s first serious foray into enemy territory a scuffed cross from the right managed to evade almost everyone on the pitch apart from Hughes who bobbled his shot and still managed to beat Walker on the post. At this stage it did not reflect the state of play. The only entertainment for the next fifteen minutes was the ejection of a home fan from the stand behind the goal - they were winning for goodness sake! Finally a Bond run down the touchline and a low cross was turned in by Jabo in imperious fashion, game on. At this stage I could only see one winner, U’s.

However an obviously really bad injury to David Wright stopped any momentum we had. He appeared to get a nudge in a clearing header and landed badly… and did not move; always a bad sign. Ten minutes of treatment on the ground and left the pitch on a spinal board to be replaced by Durham favourite JJ. Much concern, even the faithful stopped chanting for a few minutes!

Maybe this injury had a bad affect on the guys but we didn’t really turn up in the second half and also got on the wrong end on the refereeing decisions. Drey Wright was mugged on numerous occasions but probably the worst decision I have seen for some time was following a Notts County attack, U’s cleared the ball to halfway and Freddie Sears (good to see him back for the last 20 minutes) was put through clear on goal with only the goalie to beat, upon which time the referee finally chose to stop the match to get treatment for a “supposed” head injury to a Notts player just outside our penalty area. A quick touch from the magic sponge had him trotting to the touchline. This would have brought us level after giving away a very sloppy goal from a corner, headed in by Arquin from inside the six yard box. Now call me picky, but with a seven foot goalie I would expect him to be dealing with any ball that close in and that was not the only time he relied on Magnus and Johnny White both who had excellent games (well up to 75 minutes actually) as did JJ when he came on for David Wright. A third goal ensued during stoppage time to the further detriment of our goal difference.

This game had such a similar pattern the match at Sheffield United where we switched off “again” around 75 minutes having been the better side for most of the rest of the match.

For Notts County everything seemed to flow through Jamal Campbell-Ryce who I thought was man of the match. He certainly wouldn’t have been with Kem Izett snapping at his heels! We need Kem back soon as we do some more defenders with David Wright out, I suspect, for the rest of the season.

Would that the team had shown the same amount of enthusiasm for the game as did the travelling supporters (200+?) who were massive throughout the match. Well done guys, you couldn't have done more for them. Now we need to see a bit of renewed commitment from the team Tuesday night and this time for ninety minutes please.

Photo: Action Images

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