‘Meatheads’ hold no fear for Ciaran

NOTTS County’s on-loan defender Ciaran Brennan does not fear the National League’s physical battle and said he was used to facing “big meatheads” at Gainsborough Trinity.

The Sheffield Wednesday centreback is in line to make his debut for the Magpies today away to Altrincham as they look to extend their unbeaten run to the season.

The 21-year-old arrived in midweek due to injuries to Connell Rawlinson and Kyle Cameron and is regarded as a ball-playing centreback.

But while he says he is not a physically imposing figure, he hopes his intelligence more than makes up for it.

And he says the prospect of facing towering centre-forwards does not bother him, having experienced some man-mountains during a loan spell in the Northern Premier League with Trinity.

“I’m quite clever with my defending and I know I’m not 6ft 5in and bulletproof so I need to be smart with how I defend,” he said.

“I like to kind of play cat and mouse with big strikers which, obviously, I learned doing at Gainsborough.

“You get big meatheads who just want to elbow you and stuff. I like a tug on the arm and to nip in front.

“If the ball is coming in the box, I’ve got quite a decent a decent leap so, hopefully, I can get it away and we can go and score at the other end.”

Brennan will not be the only debutant for Notts today, with goalkeeper Anthony Patterson also set to play after his arrival from Sunderland. He will replace the injured Sam Slocombe.

Notts are also missing Connell Rawlinson, who picked up an injury in training, while Kyle Cameron suffered a hamstring problem in last weekend’s win over Maidenhead.

Striker Lewis Knight is also absent as he recovers from a hamstring problem suffered in pre-season.