Arguably Notts County's best performance of the season at Meadow Lane saw them to their first point in 7 matches. The potters haven't had it quite that bad in recent weeks but nevertheless have only won 2 from the last 10 matches. This is not promotion form and Stoke are falling away from the autos.
Now 4th, the potters need to get back on winning ways desperately but could end up in an even worse position come next Saturday afternoon. Stoke face Reading away which will be a tough test for the under-strength Stoke side.
Applauding the potters on a fair away performance, I looked up to the Notts County scoreboard, which was displaying the afternoon's other division two results. Every single one was a bad result for the potters (Except Wigan 4 Cardiff 0 – not so big now are you Cardiff!!) and I knew Stoke would be 4th, if not 5th.
In the first-half, Notts County were the better side overall. Stoke had chances – Their best opportunity came when Jurgen Vandoerzen crossed for Andy Cooke who came agonizingly close, hitting the woodwork.
On the other hand, Notts County gave Stoke fans a scare when a good ball by Hackworth found Richard Liburd whose shot hit the bar and the post before being cleared.
In the 2nd half, Stoke came out much brighter and could have won the game with constant pressure on the Notts goal. County could only break on occasions as they somehow managed to survive the 45 minutes of pressure.
Influential ‘Ginger' James O'Connor found himself in some great positions in front of goal but failed to score due to some fantastic work in goal by Stuart Garden the Notts County Keeper.
In the end Stoke had to settle for a 0-0 draw. Certainly not a boring draw that 0-0 would suggest – a game full of chances and either side could have taken all 3 points.
STARTING LINE-UP
Cutler – 7/10 - Decent Game
Flynn – 7/10 – Really not a winger but gave full effort
Handyside – 8/10 – The defense looked much better
Shtaniuk – 7/10 – The usual good defending
Clarke – 7/10 – Decent game, though not his best
Gudjonson – 8/10 – Influential, good corners, good crosses.
O'Connor 9/10 – man of the match – Influential in the midfield
Henry – 8/10 – Great work, some nice passes
VanDoerzen – 7/10 – Did well down the left with Clarke
Cooke – 8/10 – Just unlucky that he couldn't hit the back of the net!
Goodfellow – 6/10 – Wasn't effective at all in my opinion
SUBS
Iwelumo – 7/10 – Much better from ‘Big Chris'
Thordarson – 6/10 – Didn't see much of him