Finally Something To Cheer About

Bradford City 0-3 Notts County (League Two) 21.03.24

Notts County finally returned to winning ways on Tuesday night, overcoming the challenge of Bradford City, giving Stuart Maynard and his coaching staff only their second win of their tenure thus far.

Coming into this contest, Notts had been on a torrid run of form, gaining only one point from their last six matches, which saw them sit rock bottom of the League Two form table. However, Bradford themselves had been struggling as of late, losing their last two games against Forest Green and Mansfield, both of which were at home for Gary Alexander’s side.

Although things would continue in poor form for Bradford, as only 12 minutes into the matchup, a deflected Jodi Jones shot found its way into the path of County’s number 9, Macaulay Langstaff, who could not miss, tapping home from close range to give his side the lead, as well as propelling himself onto 25 goals for the season, re-establishing himself as the standalone League Two top scorer. The hosts threatened for the rest of the half, but were unable to test Luca Ashby-Hammond between the sticks. Going into the break up by a goal, Notts were good value for their lead, and as the second period commenced, their dominance became more apparent.

The Magpies continued to dominate possession and the lion-share of chances, however were unable to take immediate advantage of their control, and when the hosts countered just under 10 minutes into the half, resulting in Harry Chapman glancing his header off the post, many travelling fans will have feared the worst. But unlike many of County’s recent contests, they were able to score a well-earned second goal just minutes later, when Jodi Jones’ sublime free kick delivery was headed home with authority by the in-form frontman Alassana Jatta at the back post.

Two goals to the good, County’s superiority was now evident on the scoreline as well as the pitch, and as they continued to control the closing minutes of the match, deep into stoppage time they would add a third to put the game to bed. A long ball from ‘keeper Ashby-Hammond dropped kindly for Jatta, and the Gambian striker made no mistake one-on-one with the Bantams shot-stopper, lashing the ball home, sending the away fans into a sense of relief. With three goals and three points to take back to Nottingham, a sense of positivity has been instilled at the club ahead of the visit of Salford City to Meadow Lane on Saturday, where Maynard and his squad will look to make it back-to-back wins for the first time in 2024.