It was perhaps a year of promise, but ultimately one that saw them fall just short as Notts County’s 2024/25 season would see them as beaten playoff semi-finalists in EFL League Two, whilst they’ve pushed on in the first half of the 2025/26 campaign.

The year just finished would see the side on the other side of the Trent begin with a 2-1 defeat to Walsall, before embarking upon a six-match, unbeaten run (five wins and a draw), leading them into mid-February sitting second in the table.

Unfortunately, they’d fall off the pace in the closing quarter of the season and eventually ended the campaign in sixth place, four points off third place Bradford City in the final automatic promotion spot.

That set up a playoff semi-final with last seasons nemesis, AFC Wimbledon, the Dons winning 1-0 at home and away before going on to earn promotion to League One themselves; County were left to lick their wounds, and start again.

Highlights in the first half of 2025 would see a 2-0 home win over Morecambe as Charlie Whitaker and Alassana Jatta netted to send Notts up to the dizzying heights of second place, before a 2-0 win away to Grimsby Town ended a run of no-win in three, and snapped their hosts’ eight-match unbeaten run in the process, Jatta and David McGoldrick with the goals.

McGoldrick also netted in the 3-0 home win over MK Dons alongside efforts from Nick Tsaroulla and Will HJarvis, before a late season, 3-1 win at Harrogate Town in late April kept them in the hunt for automatic promotion – Conor Grant’s second half brace adding to George Abbott’s opener after thirty minutes.

The season though finished with defeat at home to Doncaster Rovers, before back-to-back losses in the playoffs; the second half of 2025, and the beginning of the 2025/26 season, saw it all begin again, with County’s remit to gain that eagerly anticipated, promotion to League One.

Failure to earn promotion proved costly for manager Stuart Maynard, defeat in the playoffs costing him his position in mid-May, being replaced four weeks later by former Burton Albion boss, the fledgling manager, Martin Paterson; the former Northern Ireland international having had Premier League and Championship playing experience with Burnley, alongside spells with the likes of Stoke City and Huddersfield Town, among numerous others.

A poor start though would see Paterson’s side winless in four, which included exit from the League Cup, before finally picking up a first success on 20 August, a 4-1 thumping of Shrewsbury Town, at Meadow Lane, goals coming from Matthew Dennis, Sonny Aljofree, Tsaroulla and Grant.

Other highlights in the first half of the 2025/26 campaign have been a 4-0 home demolition of Crawley Town (Tyrese Hall brace, Scott Robertson, Alassana Jatta) in mid-September, and a 3-1 win against visiting Oldham Athletic (own-goal, Hall and Jatta) at the start of October,

the latter seeing in the start of an unbeaten month which was stretched to six matches in the league.

Exit from the FA Cup, on penalties (following a 2-2 draw), away to Brackley, was a dampener of County’s spirits, but they started December with an entertaining, 3-2 home win over MK Dons; Nathaniel Méndez-Laing’s early brace, including a penalty, inside fifteen minutes, played part in a see-saw opening half hour.

Goals from Dennis and Jatta saw the sides level at 2-2 before the half hour mark was breached, with fans having to wait until closing the minutes before the winner arrived, Tom Iorpenda popping up with two minutes remaining to snatch all three points for the hosts; it was a win which saw County leapfrog their opponents into second place.

The year just finished, 2025, saw Paterson’s charges finish with two wins, two draws, and a loss, throughout the month of December, Iorpenda netting in the year-ending, 1-1 draw away to MK Dons, on the 29th.

They now must quickly dust off the New Year festivities and go again with a home clash on New Years Day against Accrington Stanley, quickly followed by the visit of Gillingham, before back-to-back away days at Oldham Athletic and Crewe Alexandra sees them into the middle of the month.

*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).

*Main image @Official_NCFC Magpies boss Martin Paterson.