Magpies are ‘as good as we can be for opener’
WILLIAMS HAPPY WITH HIGH-TEMPO DISPLAY
Williams was happy with the display and work rate shown by his Notts County side during Saturday’s 1-0 win at York City.
The Magpies concluded their campaign with victory over the Minstermen, courtesy of a Jim O’brien goal at the Community Stadium Leisure Complex.
The win over John Askley’s side was County’s fourth pre-season win, though the scoreline could have been different given the visitors chances to capitalise.
Cedwyn Scott hit the post and home side goalkeeper Ethan Ross saved a number of attempts from Notts to keep the score to a minimum.
Despite the win, Macaulay Langstaff was forced to hobble off before the hour mark. Speaking postmatch, Williams is hopeful Langstaff ’s injury “isn’t anything too serious”.
“It’s too early to say but because he played on for a little while, I’m hopeful that means it isn’t anything too serious. He’s tightened up around his hip flexor, so we’ll have to assess him properly once it’s settled down.”
On his side’s performance, Williams continued: “I think the players understand the demands in terms of how we want to press and we’ve shown today that. When we get our timing right and we commit properly to the press, we can score off the back of it.
“We’ve seen some good team goals coming from nice build-up play in pre-season, but we also want to be able to take the ball off the opposition close to their goal and try to score like that.”
“It was a good display in terms of work rate and limiting the opposition – I think they only had one attempt on target – but we need to score more. That was probably the main disappointment today – that we didn’t see a bit more calmness in front of goal.
“But the guys are getting into good positions and showing they’re not scared to miss, which is a big deal.”
Ahead of their National League opener against Maidenhead United, the Magpies boss confirmed there’s a chance of welcoming further additions to the squad. “There’s potential for that,” he said.
“We’ve been looking for people who are as close to the perfect fit for us as possible and there’s a realistic chance we might see some movement ahead of Maidenhead.”
Following a solid pre-season, the 41-year-old expects his squad to be “as good as it can be” when they return to home soil for the National League opener next weekend.
“I think the big difference next weekend will be freshness,” WILLUKE liams added.
“We’ve been working very hard up until now to make sure the lads’ conditioning is as good as it can be and so we can get all the necessary tactical detail across. It’s really tough to produce a high-tempo performance after working like that through the week, so I’m expecting the guys to be full of energy going into the game on Saturday.
“I’ve had a look at Maidenhead and they’re not going to make the game easy for us at all. Today’s opponents tried to harass us nonstop and I expect the same thing on Saturday. I expect them to come and press us really aggressively, and they have some very good players who we need to be aware of.”
Maidenhead prepared for their game with County with a narrow defeat to Farnborough.
Their assistant manager, Ryan Peters, played down the significance of the defeat. “The score is irrelevant to us right now. Pre-season has given us a chance to work on a few things and gain fitness,” said Peters.
“It’s going to be a long week, and a long journey to Notts County, I hope the boys are buzzing for it.
“Training is going to be as tough as it can be without us overdoing it. All the games are done now – the start of the season is here, and the boys need to be ready.”