Left Pie-On: January

 

It turns out that, sometimes, things don’t actually change all that much over twelve months. During the last January transfer window, Notts fans spent hours on end desperately pawing at the F5 button on their keyboards in the vague hope of seeing the signing of a new striker announced by the club. One year on and the last thirty-one days were spent in much the same way, with the only change having been a shift from the expectation of a new forward’s arrival to a sort of desperate hope that we wouldn’t have to endure Karl Hawley blundering around upfront for too much longer. As it turned out, with the window slowly closing on us, our prayers were answered. Well, sort of. The signing of Jonathon Forte on a season-long loan is perhaps not the seasoned goalscorer that some were hoping for, but he was successful at the club before and has the raw pace that Notts have been so clearly lacking during the recent run of poor form. His arrival also allowed us to loan out Hawley to the hapless, unsuspecting Crawley Town – so it’s hard to complain really.  

 

On the pitch, things in January progressed in much the same fashion as they had in 2011, with some promising performances only increasing the frustration at the Magpies’ inability to pick up wins in League One. The first game of the month was a Bank Holiday Monday tussle at Meadow Lane with previously unbeaten HuddersfieldTown, who have looked altogether more fragile since surrendering their record to Charlton. They do still have the irrepressible Jordan Rhodes, however, and a goal and an assist from the best player in the division gave the Terriers a two-nil lead quickly after half time. Notts showed the same spirit that they have had all season though, and fought their way back, with a Jeff Hughes penalty and fine Lee Hughes finish earning a useful point.

 

Next up was a return to FA Cup action, with a third round trip to Championship strugglers Doncaster Rovers. From the off, Notts comfortably took control of the tie and dominated their higher league opponents, with a Jeff Hughes double sealing their passage to the fourth round and a glamour tie with, err, Stevenage. “You’re going down with the Forest” was the song of choice from the 3,000 travelling fans and, in truth, if Doncaster and Forest really are as poor as they have looked recently then League One has little to fear next season.  

 

Notts again failed to take their cup form into the league, though, and were beaten 2-1 at Bournemouth, with another late goal proving to be the Magpies’ undoing. New signing Damion Stewart had impressed in defence at Doncaster and he was joined by Forest youngster Kieron Freeman, but the debutant struggled all afternoon against Marc Pugh and the hosts fought back to win despite an absolute rocket of a free kick by Hamza Bencherif giving us an early lead.

 

Roles were reversed a week later, with Notts pinching a point late on against promotion chasing Milton Keynes at Meadow Lane. An acrobatic Tom Flanagan strike put the visitors in front, but Notts swarmed all over the Dons in the second half and deserved even more than the point they earned thanks to yet another Jeff Hughes penalty. The 0-0 draw with Preston North End three days later, meanwhile, was so dull that it isn’t worth dedicating any more than this sentence to it.

 

As the dregs of the month began to pass by, Forte’s arrival did give the Notts’ faithful some cause for optimism, optimism that lasted around twenty-four hours. The Southampton loanee’s arrival on the Friday afternoon allowed him to be thrown straight into the side for the FA Cup tie at Stevenage, but he never got a kick against Hertfordshire’s premier wrestling squad and was hauled off at half time as a calamitous Stewart own goal was enough to knock Notts out of the cup.

 

With the mood at Meadow Lane distinctly downcast, this made the midweek trip to Walsall all the more important for a side whose confidence was clearly in tatters. However, Lee Hughes’ goal after three minutes lifted the Magpies, and they were able to hold out for a 1-0 win at the Bescot Stadium that should, really, have been far more comfortable. Not that we were in any position to complain, though, and despite the insipid fare on offer in the West Midlands, it is a win that will go down as one of Notts’ most important of the season. This also proved to be the last notable action of the month, with the home game against Stevenage unsurprisingly called off due to a frozen pitch at Meadow Lane.

 

With a run of games coming up that, on paper, look more than winnable, Notts are entering into what could be a season-defining period. Sat far enough off both the play-offs and relegation for them to be little more than a lingering thought, but close enough for neither to be entirely discounted, we may finally know exactly where we stand.

Edit - on the day this article was published it was also revealed that Notts re-signed another former loan striker, Christian Montano from West Ham. After proving a hit first time around this gets a big thumbs up from the Magpies in the LeftLion team. Hurrah!

 

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