Notts County have grown up in recent weeks – boss Luke Williams

Posted Sunday, August 27, 2023 by PA

Notts County boss Luke Williams believes his side have grown up in recent weeks as they continue to impress in League Two.

The Magpies earned their third victory of the season thanks to goals from David McGoldrick and Connell Rawlinson before Josh Hawkes pulled one back late on.

And Williams explained that if they can keep up the momentum they have gained over the coming weeks, that his side will enjoy a good season back in the EFL.

He said: “The group have grown up a lot, I really do mean that.

“I think I have probably never witnessed as a group to that level and they are taking their work more seriously than ever before.

“If we can maintain that level, then I think we can look forward to a decent season and play a lot of good football – but that is the challenge now.”

The hosts had to finish the game with 10 men however as Cedwyn Scott was forced off through injury with Notts having already made all five substitutions.

“He felt something in his knee and another guy that tried to play on, he must have been in agony,” Williams explained on the result of Scott’s injury.

“We have to wait for everything to settle down to some extent before we can try and examine what is going on inside of there.

“Hopefully it’s less serious than we anticipate, but it’s very upsetting for us and the team.”

Tranmere boss Ian Dawes felt the result could have gone either way, but agreed the overall outcome of the contest was a fair result.

The visitors had great chances in both halves, with Kieron Morris unable to test Aidan Stone in the first half before Tom Davies rattled the crossbar in the closing stages.

“It was a fair result, but you can’t moan about luck and things like that,” Dawes said.

“Their first goal, it has ricocheted lovely for McGoldrick, but that happens and we have to get on with it.

“We have to stay compact. We had good chances in the first half and we have to take them.

“We knew that we would not get as many today and we had to take our opportunities in the second half.

“I thought we started the second really well but again, we kept turning the ball over and they had a spell of around five minutes when they really put pressure on us and scored the second goal.

“It’s then about trying to change that and getting back in the game, we did but when we changed it, we left gaps open and – on another day – the result could have been different.”