SORRY NOTTS SKITTLED BY LUKE DOUBLE
Varney brace leaves County in the mire
CHAIRMAN Alan Hardy will be back on the road this week looking for the manager that can stop Notts County crashing out of the Football League.
A year ago to the day, Notts beat Cheltenham at Meadow Lane and topped the table.
This depressing defeat plunged them into the bottom two and the club fancied to get promotion this season are struggling against relegation.
Hardy has got through two managers already this season, Kevin Nolan in September and Harry Kewell last Tuesday.
Michael Appleton was first choice to succeed them, but he has turned it down and Paul Hurst, recently sacked by Ipswich, is new favourite.
Hurst was thought to have been at Meadow Lane to watch this embarrassment with angry fans queuing to get out before the end
“The most important thing is to find the person who will be the best long-term fit for this football club,”says Hardy.
“That could take days or weeks. I am doing everything I can to make the right call.”
These two teams have struggled to win a league game between them, Notts without a victory in six and Cheltenham winless in nine before kick-off.
But Cheltenham have been more patient with their manager, Michael Duff, than Hardy has been with his.
Go on a bad run like Nolan did in September with six league games without a win, or Kewell, also winless in six and you are history. Hardy took a few hours off from his managerial hunt in the hope that Steve Chettle, his under-23 coach, could follow-up his caretaker midweek Checkatrade Trophy win with another, far more important league victory.
But by half-time Hardy was no happier. Then it got worse.
Luke Varney put Cheltenham ahead in the 35th minute with a six-yard header from Ryan Broom’s cross.
Varney was totally unmarked, as was Chris Hussey when he got away two minutes into added time and brought a superb save out of Ross Fitzsimons.
Hussey should have scored and Notts should have been in deeper trouble, something noted by County technical director Paul Hart, a vastly experienced football man, who was out of his seat in the stands before half-time and heading for the dressing rooms. The outcome was that County started the second half with four defenders rather than the three who could not cope against even a Cheltenham attack that has been so weak all season.
But it made no difference.
By the 66th minute the game was over.
A corner routine honed at the training ground saw Hussey send the ball low across the ground and Varney side footed in his shot. Notts were making Varney look like Vardy and 200 odd Cheltenham fans could hardly believe what they were seeing and enjoy-
ing. When Hussey broke away three minutes from time, County’s defence was again absent and this time Tyrone Barnett tucked away another simple and embarrassing goal.
“Words have been said in the dressing room,” said Chettle. “Forceful words. This is a man’s game and these players have to stand up. I have only been in the dressing room a week so I can’t judge what kind of people they are. But they have been told what’s needed.”
For Duff it was a memorable day, his first League win as Cheltenham boss and his team out the bottom two at County’s expense.
“It’s been coming,” said Duff. “For me it’s a relief, but it’s not about me, it’s about the team.”