The Notts County Story — March 2013

Hello my friends, we’re getting closer to the end of my first Premier League season with Notts County, thank you for the fantastic support you’ve shown so far. We were lying in 6th place at the end of February, so we still had a good chance of grabbing an Europa League ticket at the end of the season. We had to rack up some more points though, Liverpool were behind us in 7th.

The first game of the month was a tricky away one, we had to meet 12th placed West Ham. We had good memories from the home game, it ended 2-0 back in November, but an away match is always a different story. The first half saw West Ham dominating the game, we were under pressure but Guilherme gave us some room to breathe after inventing a goal all by himself. We were unable too hold on to that lead though, the first half ended 1-1. We looked a bit better in the second half, the match was fairly even. We had a good chance of winning it in the 81st minute but the ball hit the crossbar. I guess the draw was good enough considering that West Ham missed quite a few good chances.

The next game saw us travel to Craven Cottage to meet 11th placed Fulham, a team that held us to a goalless draw back in November. They parked the bus then and they did the same thing in front of their own fans, I don’t like their attitude but I guess you have to do whatever it takes to win. It was difficult for us to create chances, there was almost no room left to pass the ball in Fulham‘s half. We managed to score one just before the break though, Gianmarco Zigoni pushed in a cross from Rodney Sneijder to give us the lead. Fulham looked a bit better in the second half but Zigoni had a great afternoon, he scored from a corner kick just when we needed it the most. Guilherme completed the game with a counter attack goal, I was very happy to go home with all the three points.

Back to Meadow Lane for the last game of the month, 12th placed Wolves were coming to face us. We managed to beat them 3-0 away from home in November, so I think I was entitled to expect another win. The lads looked quite determined, we were all over them right from the start. The ball just wouldn’t go in though. Even more, it went into our own net after a poor corner kick clearance from Zigoni. The Italian reacted well to the incident, he was determined to make up for the mistake. He had a good opportunity before the break and he struck the ball with tremendous power from inside the box, the keeper would have been in great trouble if he touched that ball. Lucas Biglia gave us the lead just before the break from a free kick, he is always dangerous within the 20-25 yards area. We continued to play pretty well in the second half, Zigoni was unstoppable. He was stopped at some point but it was a foul inside the box, Guilherme placed it in to make it 3-1. Wolves clawed one back but the victory was already ours.

Not only that we kept the 6th spot at the end of the month, we advanced to 5th! Arsenal had two games in hand though, so I guess they will probably bounce back up after playing those matches. Liverpool were 7 points behind us with 6 more games to be played, we still have a good chance.

Gianmarco Zigoni was elected Player Of The Month, his performances have been solid lately and he teams up nicely with Guilherme. I hope to have the necessary funds to make his move to Meadow Lane permanent at the end of the season…

Two more months… April will be quite tough, apart from the away game at Blackburn. Both Everton and Newcastle can cause us a lot of trouble at home, we’ll have to put up a good fight to win those games.

Looking further, the month of May will be even tougher. I guess we’ll have to take it one game at a time and fight for the points.

That’s how it was but the post isn’t over yet. I have a question for those of you who have better knowledge of the English football than I do. Here’s the problem:

Chelsea just won the Carling Cup by beating Championship side Bristol City in the final. As you can see from the league table, Chelsea will probably qualify for the Champions League at the end of the season. The question is, will Bristol City get an Europa League place? Because if they do, the 6th place might not be enough to qualify…

The FA Cup semi finals will be played in April, the two ties are Aston Villa vs Manchester United and Everton vs Liverpool. I know for a fact that if the winner of the FA Cup is already qualified for the Champions League the runners up will get an Europa League place. What I don’t know is whether the same thing happens with the Carling Cup finalists.

OK, the post is over now, we can move on to the comments :) I would appreciate any information about the Carling Cup issue, so don’t be shy ;)

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