Magpies have to go back to classroom
NOTTS PAY THE PENALTY FOR SLOPPY DEFENDING
NOTTS County boss Kevin Nolan admits his side needs to “get better and soon” after defensive mistakes cost them dearly at Cambridge United.
The Magpies were beaten 3-2 at the Abbey Stadium where they had taken the lead through a quite magnificent strike from Enzio Boldewijn.
But the game turned on its head early in the second half when Shaun Brisley and goalkeeper Ross Fitzsimons got into a mix-up, allowing Ade Azeez to score.
The striker then benefited from further sloppy defending to make it 2-1 before Richard Duffy looked to have secured a point for the Magpies.
But up popped Barry Corr to score from a corner late on to seal Cambridge’s win, and Nolan was disappointed with Cambridge’s first goal in particular.
“We made the wrong decisions and I thought Brizzo (Brisley) could have done better by putting the ball out and Ross is caught in no man’s land,” he said.
“It was disappointing because we were a minute and a half into the second half when we told them to go out and work their way through the next five to 10 minutes.
“Cambridge then have to change it which means we can then open them up a bit, but the goal gets everybody off their seats and they get a new lease of life.
“Then we concede another one with people diving in and people in wrong positions.
“It was a quick free-kick which they knew about so it’s just a matter of switching off and we’ve been punished because of it.
“We finally concede from a set- piece which I am totally disappointed in but at the end of the day we’ve played some good stuff and created some good chances.
“But we have got to get better and soon both in and out of possession.
“While everyone was going on about it being a bore draw against Colchester if you like, I am more disappointed than last week.
“I do feel we should have got something from the game and I can’t take that away from the lads but we never get those freebies.”
With Ben Hall the only new arrival at centre-back in the summer, Notts have begun the season with the same back-four which had the fourth best defensive record in the league last term.
It underlined Nolan’s faith in the quartet of Matt Tootle, Dan Jones, Duffy and Brisley in that he refused to make wholesale changes to his backline.
The Magpies boss said everybody had to take responsibility for what happened at the Abbey Stadium.
“We’ve all got to take ownership,” he said.
“We’ve got to look each other in the eyes and know that we have made bad decisions.
“The goals were sloppy and it will be something we will look at.
“We will go back to the classroom and they will see it for what it is and how easy we made it for Cambridge.
“Then we have to move on because we’ve a game at Middlesbrough on Tuesday and then a home game on Friday.
“We can’t start tripping over our bottom lip. The lads need to take this defeat, learn from it and quickly.”