More misery for Kevin Nolan as Notts County lose again

Posted Sunday, August 26, 2018 by PA

Notts County boss Kevin Nolan felt his side shot themselves in the foot as their miserable start to the season continued at Lincoln.

County are rooted to the bottom of the table with just one point from their opening five games after going down 3-1 against the Imps, who climbed to the top of League Two.

Andy Kellett’s free-kick cancelled out Lee Frecklington’s impressive opener but the hosts went back ahead through Bruno Andrade before Harry Anderson added a third in the second half.

It was a familiar story for under-pressure Nolan, although his game plan was upset by first-half injuries to Richard Duffy and Matt Tootle.

“I’m disappointed again,” Nolan said. “We go 1-0 down to a fantastic volley. Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say ‘great goal’.

“I thought the reaction from our lads was brilliant and we got back in the game with a good goal, then lost our captain (Duffy).

“But then we gifted them their second goal, having been on top. You can’t do that when you come here.

“The crowd gets up again and they get back on the front foot when we’d flattened them down.

“We can’t continue to keep doing that, shooting ourselves in the foot, but that’s what we did unfortunately.

“(The third goal) came from a misjudgement which they took advantage of. They had a misjudgement in the first half but we couldn’t take advantage (when Kane Hemmings hit a post). That’s the way the cookie is crumbling for us at the moment.”

Opposite number Danny Cowley was left praising his side’s performance of as they overtook Exeter at the top after extending their unbeaten start to the league campaign to five games.

“I’m pleased with the performance,” he said. “We played with much more measure and control. We were pleased with large parts of the game.”

Frecklington got the Imps off to a dream start after seven minutes when he cracked home a stunning volley from outside the box.

Cowley added: “It was a great goal by Lee Frecklington, an unbelievable finish. He does that regularly in training. His technique in front of goal is frightening.

“The ball came down at such a tough angle and he side-foot volleyed it. We’d started well, but that goal gave us good control.

“If I’m being ultra-critical, we could have forced the issue and gone for the second. We didn’t and then allowed them to score against the run of play with a disappointing goal.

“There was a little wobble for a few minutes after that, but then we got control again. We were pleased to get the second goal and then pleased with our second-half performance.”