Luke Williams ‘exhausted’ after seeing Notts County move to the top of the table

Notts County boss Luke Williams said his side left him “exhausted” despite earning a 3-1 victory over Accrington which lifted them top of Sky Bet League Two.

Dan Crowley’s powerful header had given the hosts the lead at Meadow Lane, only for Josh Andrews to reply shortly after from a free-kick.

However, a brace from Macaulay Langstaff in the second half saw the Magpies win their third game in a row.

Williams said afterwards: “I am feeling exhausted,  because it was a tough game, and we didn’t feel comfortable at all, and I think that the scoreline could have been different – they created very good chances.

“Aidan Stone got man of the match, and I think that tells you everything, we score three goals but the goalkeeper gets man of the match – that tells you that it was a tough game.”

The hosts had to overcome a wave of Accrington pressure through the game, something that pleased the County boss the most.

He continued: “That is the thing I loved about the performance – I am exhausted but the players are able to be tough when they need to be tough and that has made me happy.”

The win sent the Magpies top of the standings after the opening six games, a point ahead of MK Dons who they face next weekend.

“No, it doesn’t mean anything,” Williams said when asked about that statistic meaning something at this early stage.

“It’s only nice because the fans can sing and I love that. I think between them, the goalkeeper, and Macca, were just a force of nature.”

Meanwhile, Accrington boss John Coleman called for consistency in refereeing decisions, believing the first and third goal his team conceded should not have stood.

He said: “We have been told that the referee’s are given a higher threshold now but nobody knows what a foul is now, it’s ruining football.

“There needs to be a harsh rethink because it is just becoming a referee’s win, and this referee is no different from any other referee this season.

“We have got legitimate claims that their first and third goals should not count, but the fact is that we did enough to get something out of that game.

“If there is no consistency, we don’t know what to do and you don’t know what is endangering an opponent, what is a foul and what is a booking, there must be a radical rethink.

“Time and time again, it is going to get worse, because you are going to get the same incidents interpreted time and time again.

“But we shouldn’t be talking about that, we should be talking about football, and it was a good game of football.”