Blarney

FEBRUARY Playoff spot locked up! Can we take a moment to be sad that our winning streak was ended by Southend United? It is somewhat hilarious. Not that we tied. But that we're doing so well - 1 loss to this point - that something as ridiculous as a draw makes us sad. Okay, not really sad... but we've pulled out so many games that I thought we might lose that a draw in this fashion is just a letdown. If nothing else, it wasn't a loss so the consecutive matches without a loss streak is still going strong. Can't win them all though. Even though we're doing our best impression this season to do just that. Anyway, after our victory over Dorking it was made official that we're in the playoffs. Even though we've sort of known that for like 2 months now. I'd say that Wrexham is an absolute lock to be there as well. It's not exactly following the reality that was this season but Notts and Wrexham are FAR AND AWAY the 2 best teams in the league. It is unfortunate - as Ryan said in real life - that only 1 club is guaranteed a promotion.

MATCH THIRTY-SIX NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS DORKING WANDERERS (15) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH THIRTY-FIVE NOTTS COUNTY (1) DAG-N-RED (22) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH THIRTY-FOUR NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS SOUTHEND UNITED (17) @ MEADOW LANE

FA TROPHY: FIFTH ROUND NOTTS COUNTY VS TONBRIDGE ANGELS @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH THIRTY-THREE YEOVIL TOWN (9) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ HUISH PARK

MATCH THIRTY-TWO TORQUAY UNITED (18) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ PLAINMOOR

STATS, ANALYSIS N STUFF BOARD APPROVAL We love to see a board that's supremely happy. SUPPORTER APPROVAL Man these supporters are hard to please. FINANCES Made a little money after we finally got rid of a few players salaries, but still our finances are not good. LEAGUE PLAYER STATS Langstaff with a big lead in goals scored now. He's just on fire. Tied for 2nd best average rating in the league and tied for best conversion rate as well. He has to be the Player of the Year so far... and it shouldn't be close. LEAGUE TEAM STATS Our offense is sparkling. First in Goals scored, first in Shots on Target and tied for first in Conversion Rate. Just relentless up front. NOTTS PLAYERS STATS So we finally jettisoned a few guys that were "unhappy" and didn't want to be with the best team in the Vanarama National League. That cleared quite a bit of payroll for us as well so we were able to bring in some warm bodies to take their place. Still nobody really of note since nobody wants to come to play for us at the moment, but enough that we're not wearing everybody down. ATTACKING ANALYSIS I think I've said our attacking is good. DEFENDING ANALYSIS I am still PERPLEXED how our defense can be this bad... or at best ordinary and we just continue to shut our opposition down. It has to just come down to interceptions and a really really good keeper standing in the net because everything else points to us allowing a lot more goals than we have.

JANUARY Just rolling along. I'm still marveling at how stifling our defense has been this season. Most of that can be attributed to Mair, who's here on loan and we'd love to acquire but he's far too expensive. He's been an absolute rock in the net. And we welcome the return of Langstaff who was looking rather human for a couple of months but came back strong with 8 goals in 5 league matches and 2 more in our Isuzu Trophy win. He's just incredible. I keep waiting for the bottom to fall out, something to go wrong but right now we just seem to be getting stronger. Wrexham tried to make a push but we just pulled further away. And with 30 points between us and 8th place... if nothing else we're in the playoffs again. Here's hoping for a strong finish.

MATCH THIRTY-ONE NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS EASTLEIGH (12) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH THIRTY NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS FC HALIFAX TOWN @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH TWENTY-NINE SOLIHULL MOORS (3) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ DAMSON PARK

MATCH TWENTY-EIGHT CHESTERFIELD (4) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ THE TECHNIQUE STADIUM

FA TROPHY: FOURTH ROUND CHESTERFIELD VS NOTTS COUNTY @ THE TECHNIQUE STADIUM

MATCH TWENTY-SEVEN NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS BOREHAM WOOD (17) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH TWENTY-SIX OLDHAM ATHLETIC (21) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ BOUNDARY PARK

Hats off to Wrexham... but if we don't go up it'll be a real travesty. Our points total would have been enough to win the league in EVERY OTHER SEASON since it's inception. Just unfair if we're not promoted. But that's the rules, so we'll see what happens.

One more game and maybe we finally escape the National League. I was holding my breath there at the end, amazing comeback by Notts.

Can't be worse than reality. It's been a bad few years for Scunthorpe, falling from League One to League Two to the National League and now relegated again for the 3rd time in 5 years. Is there any hope in sight?

DECEMBER A slow starts leads to a tactic change. Despite the good record things have really been slowing down lately. The offense has been static and we've just been playing without emotion. So I decided to shake things up a little. After our first 3 matches ended with 2 draws and a win, I went into the Pizza err Isuzu Trophy and went to a more traditional-ish style 4-4-2. At least for the last 2 matches of the month it worked with a 5-1 dismantling of Barnet and then a 3-1 win against Oldham. So that leaves us 6 points clear of Solihull, 11 points clear of Wrexham and 21 points in the safety zone. We're just past midway in the season and I'd really really like to finish strong.

MATCH TWENTY-FIVE NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS OLDHAM ATHLETIC (19) @ MEADOW LANE

ISUZU FA TROPHY: THIRD ROUND BARNET VS NOTTS COUNTY @ THE HIVE

MATCH TWENTY-FOUR NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS GATESHEAD (10) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH TWENTY-THREE MAIDENHEAD UNITED (23) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ YORK ROAD

MATCH TWENTY-TWO SCUNTHORPE UNITED (24) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ GLANFORD PARK