Difficult to fathom some of the less-than-impressed comments that appeared on here (and on the fans' FB site) after yesterday's win. Two poorly performing clubs desperately in need of a win to boost their league position (and their confidence) was always likely to result in a cagey and error-strewn encounter. And that, indeed, was how the first half played out. However, to suggest that this continued for the full 90 is simply not true. What we saw in the S/H was a gritty determination and a team who had realised that they needed to get more than just a draw from the game; play was far more direct and the players appeared willing to get stuck in and to take responsibility. On the sending off, I'm not convinced that the perceived advantage of playing against 10 men is as significant as is always stated, and so I'm not going to use it as a reason to take anything away from Alty. More important to mention is their keeper who did a fine job of keeping them in the game. It's not rose-tinted to say that on another day we could have had at least two more. Colclough and CCC were both major contributors yesterday and I'm going to buck the trend of slating Jackson and say that I thought he did his job as well as anybody and posed questions with his crossing the ball. Finally, I'd be happy to see Mullarky take on the responsibility of Captain; I think he is closer to the mould of Moult in terms of leadership, and Hulme is out of the game or injured far too much.
Moving forward, I think we should expect to get nothing at Notts next week, but better opportunities exist in the games that follow. Looking at the league as it stands currently, I can see little to separate the teams in the bottom third (or even, half) so let's hope we can string a couple of wins together and ease the pressure.