Notts County 1 – 2 Rochdale (17/3/15)
Notts County endured another frustrating evening at Meadow Lane, as the ‘Magpies’ squandered a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 against Rochdale on a cold Tuesday night in Nottingham.
The side from the East Midlands took first blood on 30 minutes when Elliot Whitehouse deflected cross perfectly found forward Gary Thompson, who powered a header past Rochdale goalkeeper Jamie Jones to give the home side the advantage, and his 10th goal of the current campaign.
The lead lasted only five minutes however, as the away side from greater Manchester pounced on a short back header by Notts’ centre back Mike Edwards, which left forward Ian Henderson one-on-one with keeper Roy Carroll. He made no mistake, producing an excellent finish after being forced out wide by Carroll to score his 17th goal of the season for Rochdale.
The away side’s winning goal arrived on 54 minutes when Ian Henderson’s long range shot bounced back off the foot of the post, with the rebound falling straight to midfielder Peter Vincenti, who simply tapped into an open goal after Carroll was still scrambling back in to position following Henderson’s original effort.
The result leaves Notts County just two points above the SkyBet League One relegation places on 42 points. It is now 11 home defeats at home this season for the Magpies, giving them one of the worst records in League One at a stadium that seemingly does not feel like home to a team that is clearly lacking in confidence. Their last home win came on 17th January with a 2-1 over relegation rivals Crewe Alexandra.
Notts County manager Shaun Derry said after the game: "Win tonight’s game, and it’s a final ten games where you can really go and deliver.
"Lose tonight, and you’re really in a relegation fight, and I feel that’s where we are at this moment in time. I think that the run of results that we’ve had, albeit you can throw in a little bit of bad luck in there.
"There’s no point in making excuses. We had enough opportunities out there in that first half tonight to put the game to bed, and we didn’t, and that’s been the story of our season, especially since the end of November /December time.
"We’ve had enough opportunities to win games of football. We’ve not put it to bed, and we find ourselves in a real dogfight now.”
by Thomas Hewitt
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