FL2: Notts County v Torquay United 11th Oct 2009

Having lost two 'six-pointers' to Grimbsy and Maccy I see this as a 'Damage Limitation' type game, lets play well and try and keep the score down.

I like the look and sound of the 3-5-2 but with Nico at LB/Wing back, I cannot see anything but misery. In fact I've heard that Sven has passed 'round pictures of Nico to his squad and tasked them to go past him on every occasion!

Our old friend Akenfatwallet got a mention on Sky News when he scored yesterday. Jeff Sterling (I think) described him as a 'big chap'. How we could do with someone of his strength today.

Robbo and Ellis will need to be on top form against Hughes, Rodgers and Ade Akinbiyi.

Jon - if you fancy watching the game down the Haywain, let me know and I'll pop around in the Fiat and collect you if required.

Yeah the most important thing is that we dont get walloped but if we can get into a contest we could get something from it.

4/11 home win
8/1 away win
7/2 draw

I've done
2-2 @ 22/1
1-2 @ 25/1

No wonder Bookies love me.

Bluesquare.com's prices on scorelines are slightly better;

2-2 @ 28/1
1-2 @ 33/1

And 4-2 pays very handsomely too; 66/1 for county or 400/1 for gulls!!

I've got EB to score a brace at 25-1
Well it seemed a good idea at the time!!

I well recall the first two occasions I visited Meadow Lane and a very different place it was to the fine modern stadium of today.

In the mid sixties the huge open Kop end adjacent to the cattle market had a clinker surface interspersed with wooden boards pegged in to prevent the whole shebang from falling down, and the Main Stand had an old fashioned "Belfast" or barrell roof with seemingly a view interrupting pillar for every specatator who chose to sit beneath it. The goal at the Trent End had a shallow terrace again surfaced in clinker and wood and had a little seated pavilion in the centre directly behind the goal and it was (I believe) one of those ancient stands transported from a previous ground where it had stood on the halfway line in a similar fashion to the one at the old Belle Vue ground of Doncaster Rovers.

The strangest and most quirky aspect of Meadow Lane in those days though, was the little stream or culvert that ran along the back of the side terrace beside the pitch opposite the Main Stand and behind which the County Stand (the one with the famous gable and clock) stood. So sparse where the crowds that one could hear the "babbling" of the water throughout the match.

I remember too the amazing "barrell shape"of the pitch cambered in such a way to aid drainage that one could not see the ball on the ground if it was accross the other side from where you were watching if you chose to stand at pitch level. Indeed one could not even see the player's legs below knee level such was the height of the centre spot! Also too of being shocked at the sight of the sparse crowd dotted around this huge and imposing arena the day we played there (rather like a reserve match to be honest) and how depressing it all looked with everything painted in black. I recall too that the centre half for Notts was a young Richard Edwards who was destined to end up as the Plainmoor legend later to be known to us as Dick Edwards after a period spent playing at the magnificent Villa Park for Aston Villa and I do believe that a young Jeff Astle was playing up front for the Magpies that day too before departing for fame and glory with West Bromwich Albion and England.

My second visit was not for a match, but to kill some "boredom time" when the Supporters' Club coach despatched us outside Field Mill in Mansfield at about 8am for the Saturday afternoon kick off with the Stags and a small group of us got the bus that ran through Sherwood Forest into Nottingham and headed straight down to the Trent Bridge area and took a look around all three major sporting venues that are so wonderfully grouped together by the River Trent.

Strangely the afore mentioned Dick Edwards was on hand at Meadow Lane to chat to us as he had just emerged from a morning's physio treatment prior to their afternoon match and he was good enough to let us take a peak at the ancient and dingey dressing rooms and tunnel area of the old ground................how ironic that neither he nor we knew where his destiny lay at that time. But the spookiest aspect of the trip was that our visit to Forest's City Ground came just a week before the Main Stand caught fire during their game with West Brom with such disastrous results that it had to be pulled down and rebuilt whilst Forest staged their next few months playing "home" matches at Meadow Lane!

If you still haven't decided where to drink in Nottingham today, may I recommend the "Olde Trippe To Jerusalem" set in the sandstone cliff below Nottingham Castle and reputedly the oldest tavern in the world, and it's only a fifteen minute stroll to the ground down London Road.

I suppose it was to be expected, but barely a mention for the Gulls in the opening 15 minutes of the Sky coverage. "Oh, by the way, County are playing some team from Devon."

If we do not wake it up quickly this could be very embarrassing