Burchnall thrilled by ‘outstanding’ Notts display sparked by Jim’s treble
HEAD COACH PRAISES HIS SIDE’S INTENSITY IN AWAY VICTORY
IAN Burchnall hailed an “unbelievable” battling performance by Notts County as the Magpies romped to a 4-0 victory over Maidenhead United to bolster their promotion hopes in the National League.
Midfielder Jim O’brien stole the headlines as the Scotsman smashed in a hat-trick at York Road before Ruben Rodrigues continued his terrific form by scoring his fifth goal in four games.
The result lifted dominant Notts up to fifth in the table as they made it three wins on the spin, celebrating their biggest away victory of the season.
And Notts’ head coach Burchnall was thrilled with what he witnessed in a game that saw Maidenhead boss Alan Devonshire sent to the stands at half-time for complaining about the officiating.
“The nature of the performance from start to finish was outstanding,” he said.
“It is not an easy place to come. It’s a very difficult pitch to play on and
we really battled.
“It was an unbelievable battling performance.
“When we got the ball down, we showed some quality as well.
“But I thought the intensity with which we played, even at 4-0, we were pressing, closing down and going for five. I just thought that we had a real intensity from start to finish.”
Burchnall was full of praise for goalscorer O’brien who scored the first hat-trick of his career and rightly commanded the headlines with an exceptional performance.
And he revealed how Rodrigues stepped aside to allow the Scot to take a penalty to complete his treble after Kyle Wootton was fouled in the box.
“Jim had a great performance with the runs that he was making through the middle of the pitch,” he said.
“We knew that they might do some man-marking at the back and they follow a lot of players.
“Third man runs would be important and Jim makes those runs so well. He opened them up and the pass from Michael Doyle for the first goal was excellent.
“For the penalty, I think it just shows kind of where we’re at as a team when Ruben’s quite happy to give it over to Jim when he usually takes them.
“There was no discussion about it. And then Jim tucked it away. It shows a little bit of team unity in there as well, which is great.”
Burchnall also revealed that Maidenhead goalkeeper Rhys Lovett had to be taken to hospital after he was forced off early on in the second half.
The goalkeeper collided with the post when making a save from Rodrigues in the opening 45 minutes and never really recovered.
With no substitute goalkeeper on the bench, midfielder James Comley had to replace him between the posts.
Burchnall said Lovett was taken to hospital and he wished the Maidenhead goalkeeper well.
“He took a big blow on the goalpost with that big chance that we had from Ruben,” he said.
“He was a bit shaky and he’s gone to hospital so we wish him well.
“It was a brave save that he made from Ruben and it’s quite easy to dip out of that.
“It cost him a little bit but we wish him well.”