Blarney

FA Trophy Semi-Finals from Meadow Lane punching the ticket to Wembley Bath honestly played a pretty good game but we were just a little much for them. We did rest a few players that we could, taking a small chance with the finals on the line, but I felt it was best since we were playing a club a tier below us. It worked out this time. And in the finals we're facing........... Wrexham, of course.

My private review of the season since it's already over. I'm shocked at how bad the other clubs played this year. I've done this save a few times now and there are ALWAYS 2 or 3 teams that are pushing for the title by the end of the season, no matter how good Notts does. And honestly it's not that hard to win at this level with a club like them or Wrexham. The last time I did this I think we finished with 107 points, might have been 111.... and Wrexham was just a few points below us. This time it's like NOBODY else in the league was very good at all. It is what it is, but it made for a very boring season in some ways. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it... and we're being promoted, but there was zero competition all year long, that's unusual to me. I've laughed the last few months as Langstaff has gone completely silent on the scoring goals front... and NOBODY else has pushed him at all, it's like nobody is scoring goals, which I know isn't actually true, but they're being spread around to much like with the teams, no single player is killing it, except for Notts players. It's like in real life what Wrexham did to the league a couple of years back... except Notts was right there with them. If they hadn't of been the whole season would have been a joke as Wrexham just ran over everyone. What's more laughable is I had no depth all year long. I was forced to WAY overplay guys and they were exhausted but it still didn't matter. Again, I'll live with it because the whole point is to grow the team and I'm not worried about the lower leagues, but I expect we'll find way more competition in the coming seasons than we faced this year.

March in Review Schedule The only thing that mattered this month is we wrapped up the National League Title. We're going up! Okay, maybe the FA Trophy Quarter-Final win was nice also. Table 104 points is already a new National League Record... and we have a month to add to that. National League Team Stats Woking has taken the lead again in the most goals scored in the season. National League Player Stats It's a good thing Langstaff had the first half of the season he did... because he's only scored 6 goals the last 3 months. And still nobody has caught him. Financials I'm tired of losing money.

Match Forty-One from Moss Lane, Altrincham better than a loss We stomped Altrincham in the FA Trophy 2-0 just a month ago but they really came to play today. This was a much tougher competition. In fact they put way more pressure on us than we did them. I would say we were a little lucky to escape with the draw.

Match Forty from Meadow Lane no complacency Another nice win. We're not letting complacency settle in. We'll keep pushing until the end. Have to stay sharp for our FA Trophy match coming up.

Post Match Presser The Independent A big win for your side means that you've locked down the National League and you'll be moving up to League Two next season? How are you feeling? How are the players reacting? Eddie Sirrel Big win for the boys. I am so proud of them. I am so happy for them. This isn't about me right now, this is about the club. Right now the players are back in the changing room and I imagine there is a little celebration going on. A well deserved celebration. Nottingham Post From the start you said the plan, the end game, was to get promoted back to the Football League and you've accomplished that in your first season. This is after the club spent the past 3 seasons getting into the playoffs and failing to advance. Do you feel a sense of accomplishment here? Eddie Sirrel Of course we accomplished something. We set the goals at the start of the season, we practiced hard to attain those goals and now that's culminated in realizing the vision we had as a club. Every player back there played their part and we worked hard together to get where we are. Nottinghamshire Live Any thoughts on next season? Back-to-back promotions? Eddie Sirrel *laughing* Way too early for those predictions. Nottinghamshire Live Then how do you see this season ending? Going for records, resting some players, making some more moves? Eddie Sirrel A mix maybe. I guess we'll see how it goes. I'm not concerned about records. I will get some guys some rest but we're not going to shut down. We haven't played hard all seaon just to stop now... but at the same time we can step back a little and enjoy what we've done without sweating every match. And as far as moves go, we're always looking to make moves, when they make sense.

Match Thirty-Nine from The Hive, Harrow league securing win Big win. Big match. The National League is ours!

FA Trophy Quarterfinals from Court Place Farm, Oxford nice victory This really wasn't as close as a 2-0 score might appear. We ran this match from start to finish and controlled the tempo and possession as well. Oxford managed to get off just 2 shots and never really put us in any danger at all. Honestly, no disrespect to Oxford, it was a pretty simple quarterfinal. Wrexham, Bath City and Hemel Hempstead all remain in the competition. And we drew Bath in the semi-final which means that Wrexham will be meeting Hemel in their match. Yeah... it looks like a Notts v Wrexham final.

Match Thirty-Eight from Recreation Ground, Aldershot one in equals a win One's enough. I'm evolving as a manager where I don't freak out when we don't set the world on fire every match. I'm more in tune with how we're playing. We had our chances, we got one in. More importantly we limited Aldershot's chances and kept them out.

The Independent Reports sports with Trent Crimm Notts County secured a playoff spot - if nothing else - with their latest win against Bromley in the 37th match of the season. Here's what Eddie Sirrel had to say after the match: "Of course we're happy. At the start of the season the goal was to at least earn a playoff spot so here we sit with that accomplished. But... and you knew there was a but coming, that wasn't the end goal, just a goal. The end goal is a promotion. Whether we win that in the playoffs or earn it automatically that's what we want at the end of the season." When asked if he thought they were in the drivers seat to earn the one automatic promotion afforded the National League his response was: "I think that right now we've put ourselves in about as good a position as we can be in. We've got a pretty good lead over the rest of the playoff contenders and barring some sort of horrible end to the season, I think the smart money would be on us to finish this. Now, that doesn't mean we can get complacent or just think it's over and not go out there and finish it. But it definitely means that the gold at the end of the rainbow is right there for us to reach out and grab it." I would have to agree. And I would imagine most of the rest of the league does to. Right now everyone else is fighting for #2-#7 and there are about 7 clubs in the fight, although there are a few more that are sitting on the outside with a small chance of making a push. It has been a great run by Notts County though and just a couple more months will put the finish on this incredible season they're having.

Match Thirty-Seven from Hayes Lane, Bromley big win Welcome back offense. Welcome back Langstaff. And 2 more from Scott, who's been on fire this past month. We did let 2 in and that ends the scoreless against streak but I'll live with it.

February in Review Schedule Big difference from last month. No goals allowed in 5 league matches and 1 FA Trophy match. None. Our defense is stifling. Now, if we could only figure out what's wrong with Langstaff. Table It's over. I don't even feel like there's any chance of a jinx here. There's nobody else in this league that's kept pace with us over the past couple of months and we've opened up just an insurmountable lead. Everyone else is fighting for 2nd place. National League Team Stats Woking keeps trying to take the goal lead from us... but we still hold the #1 spot in several other categories. National League Player Stats Langstaff has scored 1 goal in 2 months... and still leads the league. That's ridiculous. Finances Made a little money this month.

FA Trophy Fifth Round from Moss Lane, Altrincham nice victory to move on A big time possession advantage probalby was the difference in thsi match. Altrincham put up a lot of shots in the short time they held the ball and put a lot of pressure on us. Fortunately we were able to play keep-away from them and just didn't let them play their game. Langstaff did score once here but he's somewhere around a dozen league matches where he's just not okay. ***this match was actually played between the 32nd and 33rd league matches but I just realized I failed to post it***

Match Thirty-Six from Meadow Lane changing our fortunes Scott puts 2 more in as Langstaff is rested again. Charlie Gill in his first match gets one as well.

Match Thirty-Five from Meadow Lane another nice win Back-to-back wins where our opposition struggles to shoot and get on target. I'll take the win however I can get them.

Match Thirty-Four from Meadow Lane Scott comes through Langstaff needed a rest... and to figure out what's wrong. Scott got the start in Langstaff's spot and made the most of it by putting in 2 big goals. And we got the win. Southend only got off 7 shots and none of them were on target. Hard to win that way.

Match Thirty-Three from Huish Park, Yeovil big win Yeovil's a good club that we just dismantled so that makes me feel good. We've not exactly been playing our best football lately. We held a very big possession advantage and got a decent number of shots off but more importantly we put a lot in. They got off their fair share as well but kept missing the mark by a lot.

Match Thirty-Two from Plainmoor, Torquay disappointing So that makes us 1-2-2 in our last 5 matches. Something's not right. Must fix it. Langstaff hasn't scored in 8 matches now. Our offense is putrid. At least our defense is keeping us in games.

Transfer News We made a little noise on the transfrer front in January. We had a lot of dead weight - players that were either on bad contracts, contracts coming due or guys like Rodrigues who told us they wouldn't re-sign. So we made some moves, which in the end probably doesn't help our depth much since we didn't have much to begin with but as a cash strapped club we have to get something in return for our players. We can't just let them walk for nothing. Even 140k is better than nothing. We didn't bring anybody in... we just reached down to our developmental system and called up a few 18-year olds that were "ready" to be promoted. And by ready I mean... they're 18 so they got called up. No, actually there might be 1 or 2 that will be okay, at least as far as good depth, backups go.

January in Review Schedule Worst month we've had all season long. 2 losses and a draw in league play -- along with a couple of wins as well. 3 matches we didn't score in. Table Amazingly our "slip" didn't hurt us in the standings, in fact we've got 18 points between us and Woking now... and Solihull who's moved up also. National League Team Stats Lots of green still on the board. National League Player Stats Langstaff had 30 goals at the end of last month....... and has 30 goals at the end of this month. Ouch. Financials Finally a big profitable month.

Match Thirty-One from Meadow Lane well... it's not a loss I was really hoping for another statement match but instead it was just a pretty bad match all around. Eastleigh didn't play well. We didn't play well. I guess credit the defenses on both sides but this was a boring match. Not what I wanted after losing a couple of games this month and then putting up 24 shots the last match. But a draw is better than a loss.

Match Thirty from Meadow Lane a little home cooking We get back home after 2 on the road and we put on a show. Sort of. I mean we got 24 shots off in this match and 12 on target after only 11 shots total the last 2 games. But we only scored twice. I know, I said 'only' but when you get that many shots off you hope to put a few in. I'm not complaining.... we needed the win and we got it.

Match Twenty-Nine from Damson Park, Solihull 2 in a row.... This is 2 really bad games in a row where we haven't shot the ball well at all. Just 5 shots off this match after just 6 last one. And only 2 on target. Once again we held possession but that's not important in the scheme of things if you're not shooting. First 2 game losing streak all season. I don't like it.

Match Twenty-Eight from The Technique Stadium, Cheseterfield this one hurt Not only do I not like losing but I don't like losing to rivals. Neither do the supporters. This was one of our worst played matches this season... and that includes the one we gave up 3 goals in. We just couldn't do anything right here. We held a small possession advantage but we couldn't get the ball off... 6 total shots. Whereas they just put constant pressure on us from the start. It is a credit to our defense that we held them to just 1 goal. It could have been 3 or 4 easily with as many shots as they got off.

FA Trophy Fourth Round from Meadow Lane we controlled this one I'd never say this to Brackley's face but this wasn't much of a contest, especially since we pretty much played a highly rotated club consisting of half my youth players. They just weren't on the level we are at right now and that's not a slight on them, they shouldn't be. They did get off a lot of shots, we didn't put much pressure on them with our kids playing... but they couldn't stop us either. We deserved this win.