Kevin Nolan happy with Notts County’s form

Posted Sunday, March 11, 2018 by PA

Notts County boss Kevin Nolan insists his side are moving in the right direction after the automatic-promotion hopefuls ended Forest Green’s five-game home winning streak with a 2-1 victory.

Liam Noble returned to haunt his former side as he gave County the lead in the 34th minute, touching home inside the box.

Mark Cooper shuffled his Forest Green pack after the break and his side levelled things up after 72 minutes courtesy of a stunning goal from substitute Tahvon Campbell.

Rovers were on top and Campbell fizzed an effort against the crossbar from the edge of the box just three minutes later.

But Forest Green pressed the self-destruct button 10 minutes from time when Matt Tootle’s effort went through the hands of Chelsea loanee Brad Collins.

The win left County third in League Two, two points above Wycombe.

Nolan said: “I’m absolutely delighted for the boys. They stuck to the game-plan, carried it out really well and deserved to win the game.

“We restricted them to very few chances and made them work hard for everything they got.

“I was a bit worried when Forest Green got it back to 1-1, because we could have caved in. But we stood firm and came up with the perfect reaction to their goal.

“(Matthew) Virtue has come off the bench and done well and I thought we deserved the winning goal.

“I also thought we should have had a penalty, but fortunately it has not cost us today. If I have one criticism, it is that we did not take more of our chances and punish them further.

“This is a great result for us, but I’d like to see us become a bit more ruthless in the run in. We’re well-placed and coming to a place like Forest Green and winning feels like a big step in the right direction.”

Meanwhile, Forest Green boss Mark Cooper felt his side deserved a point after a dour first half.

“First half we played without any tempo,” said Cooper.

“We failed to ask enough questions of Notts County and in the second half I asked them to have a go. I changed one or two things and we had a right go at them and if we had started like that, we would have won the game.

“County are a big, well-organised team and I said to the players before the game let’s test ourselves against an automatic-promotion candidate.”

Cooper gleaned positives from the impact of Campbell, the West Brom loanee having pulled Rovers level.

“Tav probably felt he should have started today, but I felt 4-3-3 was the way forward against a powerful team,” Cooper added.

“I thought Reuben Reid and Tahvon Campbell were brilliant in the second half, the only thing missing was the first-half performance and we wasted 45 minutes.”