Consistency will be key if Magpies are to improve next season, says Maynard

HE CALLS ON PLAYERS AND FANS TO ‘STICK TOGETHER’

STUART MAYNARD has challenged his Notts County side to be more consistent next season.

The Magpies saw what proved to be a tumultuous return to the Football League end on a disappointing note following a 1-0 loss at The New Lawn on Saturday. Defeat to relegated Forest Green Rovers ended Notts’ five-game unbeaten run and saw the club finish 13th in the League Two table.

Maynard’s first few months in the Meadow Lane have been something of a baptism of fire, with the squad he inherited from Luke Williams slipping out of the play-off spots and into mid-table.

County also conceded the most number of goals this term - 86 - across the 24-team division as keeping clean sheets proved difficult.

Recent results do offer promise for next season, but the former Wealdstone boss now has the summer to put his own stamp on the squad.

And while changes in personal are expected, Maynard also wants to see an improvement in mentality.

“We know what League Two is all about. We’re going to need the fans behind us. We all need to be in it together and stick together,” he said.

“It’s not a league that you can keep winning consistently, but we need to make sure that we’re more consistent in what we do.

“There will be difficult times next season.

“You look at the [promoted sides] Wrexhams, Stockports, Mansfields and they’ve gone through batches of games where they haven’t won a game in five or six games at a time.”

Maynard, however, reserved praise for the supporters who made the trip to Gloucestershire for a game where only three points and pride were at stake.

He added: “It’s incredible and they’ve got behind the lads once again.

“They stayed behind and clapped the lads off, so we need their support next year. We need them as the 12th man.”

Goalkeeper coach Dan Connor, meanwhile, hopes Forest Green will be “better equipped” when they next return to the Football League after relegation from Sky Bet League Two was confirmed.

Charlie Mccann’s second-half strike meant Rovers finished the season with a morale-boosting victory.

In two tumultuous seasons, which includes six managers since June 2022, experienced boss and former Notts manager Steve Cotterill has given Forest Green reason to be optimistic for next season in the Vanarama National League.

He said: “What we hope is that…we bounce back into this division and are better equipped to come up another level and then hopefully stay there.”

On the 1-0 success, he added: “I think the game plan that we went in with worked really, really well.

“I think in the second half we dominated, but we didn’t do it over the course of the season, but we have the ability to do that.”