Would it be Chelsea? A trip to the brand spanking new Emirates Stadium? A sell-out home tie v Man U? Spurs? Everton? Newcastle? I sucked eagerly on the bottle, mopped the sweat from my brow and took a deep breath as the first ball was drawn.

 

Come on! A home draw. The chance to get a full house and maybe some TV revenue. Come on, come on, who have we got?

 

 

Tumbleweed crossed the lounge. The lager suddenly tasted of piss. Our bogey team. Wycombe bleddy Wanderers. 

“Is that a good draw then?” asked the wife, a split-second before the first cushion hit the TV screen and the poor dog’s arse received an undeserved toe-ender.

 

In a way, that draw summed up a frustrating October for the Magpies. We’d finished September on a high and had four league games against teams in the lower half of the table, so what do we do? Scrape a draw at Mansfield, lose both home games, yet still manage our first victory at Grimsby in 56 years! In between that, we had the heroics against Saints and another home loss, to Barnet, in the LDV/Freight Rover/Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, call it what you will.

 

So what’s happened? Were we in a false position a month back or are we simply not as good a side as we think we are? Maybe an air of complacency set in? When all’s said and done, we’re still firmly planted in a play-off place and have two very winnable league games to come in November. Even the most partisan Notts fan must surely agree that this is far better than most of us thought back in the summer.

 

At least Thommo seems to have finally woken up to what the fans have known all along; that Mike Edwards is patently the best centre half in the division. As a result, his dalliance with playing him in midfield has stopped and he’s become head and shoulders our player of the season so far. I’m still hopeful that the other players are watching his MoM performances each week and trying to raise their game to match his, because there are still a few that need to, as the past month has shown.

 

Anyhow, with a bit more fight and a couple of lucky breaks, I’m quietly confident that I’ll be writing a positive round up of all things black and white here next month - just so long as we beat bleddy Wycombe, eh?