Blarney

MATCH SIXTEEN WEALDSTONE (22) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ GROSVENOR VALE

MATCH FIFTEEN NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS MAIDSTONE UNITED (8) @ MEADOW LANE

FA CUP: 4TH QUALIFYING ROUND NOTTS COUNTY VS BROMLEY @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH FOURTEEN WOKING (13) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ KINGFIELD STADIUM

MATCH THIRTEEN NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS WREXHAM (5) @ MEADOW LANE

FA CUP DRAW Good draw for us. Should be a match that we can sleepwalk through.

MATCH TWELVE NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS ALTRINCHAM (6) @ MEADOW LANE

MISC STATS-N-STUFF Lovin' all the green with the average ratings, but that's not really surprising considering our start to the season. Again not surprising to see a good attacking analysis. Our pass completion and cross completion ratios could be better but it hasn't affected our performance so you don't yell too much about it. This is surprising. Our analytics aren't great. Our interceptions per game is outstanding but our tackles won ratio is average and our blocks and clearances are below average. Honestly this is sort of what I expected us to be... but we're doing this and not allowing goals. I guess don't question it when it's working. Losing money, what's new. I'm glad they're happy... now give me more money to work with. Supporters are just never satisfied. First in goals (albeit by 1 only), 2nd in shots on target ratio and 2nd in conversion rate. Not bad. Langstaff has some serious competition in most goals scored.

SEPTEMBER What an absolutely ridiculous (in a good way) month. Five wins in five matches is good enough. Outstanding really, obviously. But it's the fact that we scored 13 goals in 5 games.... and didn't allow 1. Not one goal allowed. Out of 11 matches so far this season we've completely shut down our opposition 8 times now and allowed just 1 goal twice. That means that in only 1 game so far this season have we even allowed more than 1 goal... and 8 times we haven't allowed any. Absolutely amazing. Obviously it is very early and we certainly don't want to get ahead of ourselves.. but we just dismantled another "top" team in York - who was in 2nd place at the time we played them. Right now our match that we drew in where we allowed 3 goals (but also scored 3) is just the outlier on an absolutely stunning performance early in the season. We have almost double the goal difference of the 2nd best club in the league at the moment... and we've already mounted a 7 point advantage at the top (and 13 points clear of 8th place.) Oh.. and I did say that Wrexham would bounce back, didn't I?

MATCH ELEVEN YORK CITY (2) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ YORK COMMUNITY STADIUM

MATCH TEN DORKING WANDERERS (21) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ MEADOWBANK

MATCH NINE NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS ALDERSHOT TOWN (21) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH EIGHT NOTTS COUNTY (2) VS BROMLEY (5) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH SEVEN DAG N RED (14) VS NOTTS COUNTY (2) @ VICTORIA ROAD

TWO NEW GUYS Regan Booty Kian Flanagan So again we're really not talking anything special here, just bodies to fill a need. We did have to spend a little cash but it wasn't much and the moves needed to be made. Part of my thinking here is that I have a few older players on relatively big contracts and I'd like to dump them. So if I can bring in comparable younger players on smaller contracts then I can move the bigger contracts to help out with the budget and finances.

Gratz on the new "job." Pretty gutsy resigning after a decent year and hoping for something better. Glad it worked out.

Safe travels, mate.

AUGUST What a grueling month. Six matches. We faced (at the time) a 3rd ranked and two 4th ranked clubs... and escaped with a 5-1-0 record. At times it looked easy but it was anything but. The first couple of games were blowouts, 3-0 victories in both. Then we came back to win the 3rd match 2-1. Then 2 straight matches where we escaped with 1-0 wins. And then finally a match against Solihull where they jumped to a 2-0 lead before we got our first goal... then they scored again to go up 3-1 before we roared back with 2 goals to get the draw. Regardless, for the month we allowed no goals in 3 games and 1 or less in 5 matches. For a team that I was concerned about their ability to play defense that's a pretty good stretch against clubs that at least at the time were up at the top of the table. Unfortunately I started to notice that we were getting very tired quickly in games and obviously early in the season. Again, I don't have much depth at the moment and am trying desperately to bring in some more quality players. This will have to be remedied before it gets out of control. On a positive note... Langstaff went off for a hat-trick in his 2nd game after being shut out in the first match... and then went on to score 4 more times for the month. So 7 goals in 6 matches to start the season. I'll take that. Scott added 3 himself and Rodrigues and Jones both put 1 in each. We currently sit comfortably in 2nd place with York having a perfect month. And where is Wrexham? 16th and suffering a very slow start to their season. I don't think that's going to last.

MATCH SIX NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS SOLIHULL MOORS (4) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH FIVE FC HALIFAX TOWN (3) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ THE SHAY

MATCH FOUR NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS CHESTERFIELD (4) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH THREE GATESHEAD (18) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ GATESHEAD INTERNATIONAL STADIUM

MATCH TWO BOREHAM WOOD (18) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ MEADOW PARK

OPENING DAY NOTTS COUNTY V MAIDENHEAD UNITED @ MEADOW LANE

A TRIO OF NEWCOMERS Harvey Cullinan Joe Ling Malachi Talent-Aryeetey Mostly just depth. But we needed depth. In fact we probably need more but as usual we're having issues bringing in greater quality as players are wanting bigger and better clubs. And as we've discussed our finances are a mess and we don't have a lot of money to throw around regardless. We're not Wrexham.... But a warm body is better than a dead body on the pitch... so these lads will have to do.