Notts County 2 Exeter 1.

League 2

Saturday 10 January 2009

On the Road at Meadow Lane

On a day of postponements up and down the country, Notts County did a good job getting the game on to enable Exeter City to play their first match of 2009. 
writes OLIVER SOUTH

City started with a 4-5-1 formation with a familiar back four of Steve Tully, Danny Seabome. Rob Edwards and Dean Moxey Neil Saunders, Matt Gill, Ryan Harley, Manny Panther and Marcus Stewart were in the middle of the park with Panther seemingly having a license to get forward. Adam Stansfield was up front on his own.

The game started as an open affair with City playing some neat football in the middle of the park, and both teams were restricted to some long range efforts. City went close through an effort from Harley and Notts had a free header from a comer placed very wide of the goal from Johnson. The break came in the 25th minute when Stansfield was fed into the edge of the penalty area, he ran across the front of the defender and the linesman adjudged it to be a penalty after the referee waved play on. Up stepped Marcus Stewart and slotted the ball into the left hand side as Pilkington in the Notts goal dived to his right City were winning in what until then was a relatively even affair. Only a few minutes later and Notts were back level. While Saunders was off the field getting treatment for a bloody nose. Tully provided a weak clearance down the line. Clapham picked up the ball and played it across the box, it caused panic and was bundled home at the second attempt by Facey who reacted first. City had an excellent chance to take the lead again when a cross found Saunders who was 8 yards out with only the keeper to beat, but he volleyed tamely into Pilkington's arms. Harley also had another long range effort in this period that beat Pilkington all ends up but the post sent the ball back in the direction from which it came. Before half time things got worse for City as Notts took the lead, a cross from the Notts left found Strachan unmarked in the centre of the area and he finished well past Jones to give Notts a half time lead. The second half saw no changes for City however they were clearly still rocked by the second Notts goalThe fluidity had gone and City were second to every ball. Notts offered little going forward in the second half either mind you. however with City hardly creating a chance they didn't need to. At roughly the hour mark Stewart, who had a game to forget other than the penalty, was replaced by Craig McAllister and this had little effect. The first goal scorer, Facey, found himself 10 yards clear of the defence with only Jones to beat in a central area. It was not offside as the City defence remained static, but Paul Jones came out well, made himself big and kept City in the tie by saving the 1 on 1, With 20 minutes to go City went 4-3-3 with Fred Murray replacing Saunders and Moxey going up front and Steve Basham replaced Stansfield. Again nothing really changed in terms of the pendulum of play. The game went on without City ever really threatening for an equaliser and Notts not looking like sealing the bigger win. Overall it was a poor day at the office for the whole teamAfter a positive start City were out muscled in midfieldWe were second to far too many balls. Moxey was not great, which is a rarity for him these days. Stansfield was too isolated and appears to have lost that extra yard of pace we are used to seeing. Saunders and Stewart were cutting inside and we did not have width as an option on too many occasions. There were still positives, Jones had an excellent all round game. Panther was box to box in the first half and most of the second, but needs some work on his first touch. The passing at times was neat and there were more agricultural clearances when needed which seemed to be a better balance than in recent weeks. But it was not enough, there was no real threat from either the starting line-up or when the substitutions, it was hard to tell which team were in the bottom half and which team were pushing for a playoff place.

BBC match summary and information

Battling Notts County came from behind to deservedly beat Exeter in a lively match at a freezing Meadow Lane. The hosts trailed after 26 minutes when Michael Johnson was adjudged to have tripped Adam Stansfield and Marcus Stewart converted the penalty. But Notts equalised when striker Delroy Facey bundled the ball home. And the Magpies, beaten in six of their last seven home games, got a 39th-minute winner when Gavin Strachan converted Myles Weston's fine cross.

Notts County: Pilkington, Picken, Edwards, Johnson, Clapham, Hamshaw, Strachan (Wedderburn 45), Nowland (Hunt 90), Weston, Forrester (Canham 84), Facey. 

Subs Not Used: Mayo, Fairclough.

Exeter: Jones, Tully, Seaborne, Edwards, Moxey, Harley, Gill, Panther, Saunders (Murray 71), Stansfield (Basham 71), Stewart (McAllister 58).

Subs Not Used: Marriott, Sercombe.

Booked: Stewart, Moxey, Murray.

Goals: Stewart 26 pen.

Attendance 3,832 with 546 City fans

Referee Oliver Langford (W Midlands)