Blarney

FA Trophy Semi-Final Nottingham Post A good result for your side. How happy are the players right now having booked a trip to Wembley? Eddie Sirrel Wembley is a dream for most players so they are ecstatic right now. Nottinghamshire Live Chesterfield came to play today and were putting a lot of pressure on you, especially in the 2nd half where they scored both of their goals. How special was Langstaff's hat-trick? Eddie Sirrel Langstaff has been special all season long. He knows how I feel about him. Credit Chesterfield, they certainly didn't make it a walk in the park for us. That game was worthy of a finals match in my eyes. Nottingham Post Speaking of finals. You'll be facing Wrexham at Wembley. Is that just the way it was always going to be this season? You're 1-2 in the league and now you're both in the finals of the FA Trophy as well. You couldn't make this stuff up. Eddie Sirrel No, I think even Ryan Reynolds has to be writing the script for this already. I wonder who'll be playing me? No, yeah... I think this is the way it was going to be this season or at least how I thought it would play out. Granted it means both clubs had to do their job but to this point they both have. They're right on our heels in the league and we both did what we needed to in the tournament to get here. Magpie Weekly So the plan is to finish them off in the league and then to finish them off at Wembley? Eddie Sirrel We have 5 matches left to close the door. 6 points separate us. All we have to do is go out and do what we need to and it's ours. I truly hope that they do theirs and earn their promotion as well, they deserve it. But we're still going to beat them when we meet them at Wembley for our finals match.

FA Trophy Semi-Final Preview BBC Radio Nottingham How important is the match versus Chestefield in the FA Trophy? Eddie Sirrel It's important, absolutely. We're going out there with the idea that we're coming away with the win and we're going to Wembley. We've come this far, the journey simply isn't over. BBC Radio Nottingham You've matched up against Chesterfield twice this season, getting a 4-1 victory at home and a 2-2 draw on the road. How confident are you given those results that you're going to get the win against them this time at home? Eddie Sirrel I'm happy we're home. We come to play every single game when we're in front of our supporters. In fact we've only lost 1 match all season at home and that was a 2-3 contest against Wrexham. We know our fans will turn up and give us that added something so we're going to go out and give everything we have in return.

A Chat with the Boss Magpie Weekly We're down to the final month of the season with 5 matches remaining for you and for Wrexham as well. You hold a slim 6 point advantage, with Wrexham really pouring on the pressure over the last few months and closing the gap between you rather quickly. Is there any concern this might get away from you? Eddie Sirrel Everybody in the organization knows what's at stake. None of us want to face the playoffs again but that doesn't mean we are worried if we do. We know our quality. But that's not the plan obviously. We're not looking at this glass half empty. We hold the cards here. We're in charge of our own destiny. If we go out and we do what we need to then all this talk about doom and gloom never mattered. Magpie Weekly Fair enough but being honest... a few months into this season and it looked like you were going to win the league going away. Your side looked absolutely unstoppable and nobody at that time would have guessed there ever would have been any question of you taking the league by 20 points or more. You were trending towards a total that nobody has ever seen before. But that's changed the last few months and you're more sliding into the end rather than running through it. Eddie Sirrel I guess maybe we should shorten the season to 3 months? *laughs* Okay, look, we started out on fire, we know that, you know that, the world knows it. But the season is long. It's a marathon, not a sprint. You've probably heard that one before. It doesn't matter if you're up by 20 points 3 months in or 6 months in... it matters where you finish and it doesn't matter if you finish by 20 up or 1 up as long as you're up. I'm not taking away anything the boys have done this season. And we're not looking ahead either. We have to finish this thing out otherwise the questions will really come. If we win it, in 2 years nobody is going to remember how far up we were at one point, not even me. All that matters is the finish. Magpie Weekly So it's Wrexham on your tail. Is that the way it was always going to be? After their disastrous first couple of months it didn't look like it would be. Eddie Sirrel Same story, different verse. We had a great start and have come back to the pack while they had a horrible start and are running up the ladder now. But I expected them to be here at the end with us and I think if you asked them they'd think the same. There are some that are upset by the things Wrexham is doing but honestly I think it's good for the league. We've never had so much attention put on us before. Yeah they're spending a lot and some think they're just basically buying victories and most clubs here - really every club down here - can't afford what they're doing... but they can. Do people not expect them to try and win? Magpie Weekly But instead you are. They may still get there but if you take the league they're going through the playoffs which did them no favors last season. Seems like your typical David vs Goliath story. Does that make it more.. special on your end? Eddie Sirrel My job is to beat whoever is put in front of us. Doesn't matter if they're the smallest club in the league with the smallest wage budget or if it's Arsenal or Manchester City. Is Wrexham the big dog in the league currently, yes, absolutely. Does it mean more when we beat them? Not necessarily but I'm not going to say I don't like it. Most people feel something more when you beat or are at least competitive against clubs that maybe are bigger or allegedly better than you, more than you do if you beat someone that everyone expects you will. But in the end, all wins matter, it's what we're paid for.

March in Review Schedule No horrible setbacks for the month. We won our FA Trophy Quarter-Finals match. We had a couple of draws in league play but we didn't give up too many points. Table It's definitely a 2-horse race now, which we assumed it would be at the start of the season. We have a 6 point cushion now with 5 to play. The bottom of the playoff bracket is interesting as well as there are 4 teams really fighting it out for 2 spots left. And then there are a few clubs at the bottom of the ladder fighting to stay in the league or face relegation as well. The last month of the season is going to be a good one. National League Team Stats National League Player Stats Langstaff at 50 goals now. Financials A small increase in cash. At least we've trended the right way this season.

Match Forty-One

Match Forty

Match Thirty-Nine

FA Trophy the Quarter-Finals BBC Radio Nottingham A big win for Notts County this week, Eddie, which puts you in the semi-finals of the FA Trophy. Is success in this competition something you set out early in the season or does your league success matter more? Eddie Sirrel Well league play is always going to count for more. As for 'matter'... I'd say league play matters more also for the club but when you ask the fans, they never want to lose anything, so it matters. If nothing else it's a ways for smaller clubs to make some much needed money, but there's also pride involved. And with every success you build the profile of the club as well. So it matters... but it doesn't matter as much as winning the league. That was our goal this season more than anything.

Match Thirty-Eight

Match Thirty-Seven Magpie Weekly A good win for the club and one that punches your spot to the playoffs... if nothing else. How's the response from the players? Eddie Sirrel At the risk of sounding flippant, playoffs isn't what we want. We've had playoffs for 3 years here and they haven't worked out for us yet. That's not to say we're not happy or that if that's all it ends up being that we don't think we're good enough to advance and earn promotion. It just means that's not our goal, it's not been our goal from day one... so we're not done here. We're not done yet. There are still games to finish and a league to win. Magpie Weekly The match was a little touch and go there at times. You scored in the 28th minute off a penalty shot but you're side seemed in clear control up to that point, pushing Bromley up against their goal and firing shot after shot in the first half... 11 total in fact. But then the switch seemed to flip in the 2nd half and you only got off 3 more shots while Bromley seemingly figured out how to counter what you were throwing at them and took control. What happened? Eddie Sirrel Yeah, they definitely came out in the 2nd half and put us on our heels. That's going to happen so it's how we respond that makes the difference. So despite the pressure my boys responded and we were able to keep them out of the net and our 1 goal was enough in this match. In the end that's all that matters.

February in Review Schedule A loss, a draw and 3 league wins. Still holding on. Table 9 points clear now with Wrexham having played 1 less. We still control our own destiny with 10 to play. National League Team Stats National League Player Stats Financials Still making a small amount of money.

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Match Thirty-Five

Records Vanarama National League Goal Record Notts County League Goal Record

Match Thirty-Four

Match Thirty-Three Nottinghamshire Live This oen seemed to get away from you a little. It was definitely a match that many thought you'd win. What happened? Eddie Sirrel Credit to Yeovil, honestly. We came in with a game plan and had a very hard time executing it. They controlled possession, which is usually our game. We got off some shots but just couldn't get them in. They definitely put pressure on us and we just didn't adapt when we should have.

FA Trophy Fifth Round Nottingham Post A comfortable win for Notts County against Ebbsfleet as they advance in the FA Cup. Eddie Sirrel gave Macaulay Langstaff the day off for rest and Cedwyn Scott played the striker position and came through with the brace. Nemane and Bajrami put in one each as well. Ebbsfleet got off 17 shots but couldn't find the net as Notts' defense came through when needed. It was a good win for a club that's been a little up and down lately.

Match Thirty-Two

Haha 9 days off..... nice quick vacation!

Let's chat Nottinghamshire Live We had a chance to sit with manager, Eddie Sirrel, and wanted to ask him a few questions about where he thought the club was. Thanks for joining us, Eddie. So you've wrapped up January with a win after a couple of draws and a loss in the 3 matches before that. How are things at the club? We've heard some rumblings of maybe some discontent with the board? Eddie Sirrel Things are good. I think it's a good thing that the expectations are now that we're going to go out and win every match when we know that's unrealistic, but that's far better than our fans assuming we're going to lose every match. As far as discontent... just because there's a disagreement or two doesn't mean there's discontent. We're not always going to get everything we want. You just hope that sometimes you do. Nottinghamshire Live So obviously things still look good on the table but maybe not as good as they did 2 months ago. Wrexham is 12 points back and Solihull is 13. Wrexham has 2 games in hand which means that they could concievably close to within 6 points with 2 victories on their side. Are you feeling like things might be slipping away a little or are hopes still high that you have the league wrapped up with just 15 games remaining? Eddie Sirrel Well I don't want to dash hopes or bring anybody down but it's not over until it's over, yeah? Do we like where we are compared to maybe being in Wrexham's position, of course we do, but we can not sit here and think it's over. We have matches to play and matches to win otherwise either Wrexham or Solihull or both could catch us. Nottinghamshire Live So you famously - I think we can say famously - let Rodrigues go earlier in the season and just let Cameron go... and also Brindley as well. You didn't have a lot of depth to begin with and now with a few lingering injuries you've been hard-pressed to give players time off that maybe they need this late in the season. Are you concerned? Do you wish that maybe you had 1 or 2 more bodies to lean on? Eddie Sirrel I am not a fan of going back in the past and wishing things could be different because no matter how much you want things to be different... they won't be. Am I concerned? Not overly. Do I want my players to get rest? Of course. But we have to function within what we have and right now we have the players we have until we don't. Nottinghamshire Live Well best of luck the rest of the season. Go Pies!

January in Review Schedule Busy month. 3 wins, 2 draws and a loss in league play. You take it but you know the quality of your club this season means that maybe you should have done a little better. We started out really well but then we got a bit tired and our lack of depth sort of bit us in the arse there at the end of the month. Table 12 points in the clear but with 2 more games played than Wrexham. The distance has definitely been closed. National League Team Stats Our opponents are scoring too easily on us... granted we're scoring more but that's not sustainable. We must shore up our defense. National League Player Stats 44 goals from Langstaff now. 15 more from Scott... although he's really cooled off of late. Financials Good month. Board doesn't seem to care.

Match Thirty-One

Match Thirty

Match Twenty-Nine

Match Twenty-Eight