County’s Burchnall: It was a cruel way to end the season
NOTTS County boss Ian Burchnall admitted it was a cruel way for the club’s season to end.
The Magpies had looked on course to seal a 1-0 victory, thanks to Ruben Rodrigues’ penalty, but with virtually the last kick of normal time Town’s Gavan Holohan scored the equaliser.
The play-off tie looked to be heading to a penalty shoot-out, only for Emmanuel Dieseruvwe to bundle home the winner in the last minute of extra-time.
The goal, which booked Grimsby’s place in Saturday’s semifinal against Wrexham, sparked joyous scenes amongst the visiting fans to Meadow Lane, but left all connected with Notts County completely stunned.
“Burchnall said: “It’s a cruel way to lose a game. For 90 minutes I thought we were great. There was nothing between the two teams. Both played their part in a very entertaining game.
“They equalised with the very last kick, they throw everyone forward and it’s chaos. I actually thought we handled it well and it could have gone either way.
“I thought the boys were fantastic. We lost Callum early on and had to adapt quickly and I thought we did that well. I’ve seen the last goal and it looks offside which is frustrating and maybe it was going to be something like that which decided the game.”
And Callum Roberts has explained his early exit. The former Newcastle winger had to be replaced by Eli Sam after 20 minutes. Roberts punched the ground in frustration which many had presumed was the result of a knock he sustained earlier on.
But on Twitter he responded to fans who were calling him “injury prone.”
“I am gutted for everyone associated with the club that we fell short again but these things happen in football and we now have to come back even stronger.
“I’d just like to address some of the fans who are now calling me injury prone again. Before the game I took an injection to get me through 120 minutes of football.
“Unfortunately, this didn’t go to plan and numbed my whole leg and foot which meant I wasn’t able to run and kick properly.“