Home, sweet home for Magpies boss
BURCHNALL HAPPY
IAN Burchnall was thrilled to bank a home quarter-final for Notts County in the National League play-offs after they beat Maidenhead United on the final day of the season.
The Magpies secured a 1-0 victory at York Road courtesy of a secondhalf penalty from Callum Roberts and they will now face the Mariners a week on Monday (7.45pm).
The win meant that Notts ensured they will have home advantage against Paul Hurst’s side as they finished fifth in the table.
A bumper crowd is now expected for the clash at Meadow Lane and head coach Burchall is expecting a white-hot atmosphere as they battle to return to the Football League.
“It was really important to get that home tie,” he said.
“We’ve been excellent at home all season and I think we know we are going to attract an unbelievable crowd.
“It will be a great atmosphere and we really wanted that home tie. We’ve finished on 82 points which is a great return for the season.
“Of course, we would have liked to have been in the top three but it’s been so competitive up there that we haven’t quite made it.
“But we get this first home tie and, hopefully, we can put in a good performance. The crowd was brilliant for us at Maidenhead. It was a fantastic turnout.”
Notts never really looked under any threat of a final-day capitulation against Maidenhead in a game they controlled for large spells.
But they had to wait until the 72nd minute for the breakthrough when Roberts was tripped in the area and scored the spot-kick himself.
Burchnall said he was pleased with the performance, although said he was keeping an eye on Grimsby’s score as they were held to a 4-4 draw at Eastleigh.
“It was good,” he said. “It was pretty composed.
“They had one or two chances at the end when we just sat off them a little bit.
“But in the first half we created some really good openings. We probably should have finished one
TO PLAY AT MEADOW LANE IN PLAY-OFFS
or two. In the second half, we had control but maybe we didn’t create enough. “There were a couple of bad habits when we played a little bit to feet too much without enough runs beyond.
“But all in all, I thought we looked pretty controlled through the game. “We had a slight eye on other results and saw Grimsby were 2-0 up at half-time. At that point, there was a bit more tension in it. “But we took care of our own performance. We played the game right and deserved the win.”
We’ve been excellent at home all season and I think we know we are going to attract an unbelievable crowd. Ian Burchnall