It is to the credit of Ian Burchnall, his coaching team and his players that they put another week of turmoil behind them to extend their winning run to three games with a 2-0 victory over Eastleigh at Meadow Lane on Saturday.
It is not difficult to imagine the frustration aboard the team bus on Tuesday as they made their way home from yet another long-haul away trip without kicking a ball.
The whys and wherefores of the decision to postpone the game at Dover for the second time - the match also fell victim to the elements on its original date - will be for those behind the scenes to discuss and resolve. And while, correctly, much of the sympathy in both cases went to the Notts fans who had again committed time and money to make the lengthy trip, the effect on Burchnall and his players should not be underestimated.
While they were left to rue another week of disruption, not just to the fixture list but also training and game preparation, promotion rivals were taking full advantage, with Stockport winning at Bromley in midweek to extend their lead at the top of the National League and in-form Boreham Wood beating Altrincham to move into the top three, where they remain despite a surprise 2-0 defeat at Maidenhead on Saturday.
If the head coach had glanced at the table when he woke up on Wednesday morning it would not have made pleasant viewing, with Notts in ninth place and, even with games in hand on many of the teams above them, facing a massive task to achieve their goal for the season of automatic promotion to the Football League by finishing top and avoiding the agony of the play-offs.
However, while Notts’ chances of overhauling the top teams between now and May have been written off by many, Burchnall is not among them. And if they can extend their winning run to four games by beating another promotion rival, FC Halifax Town, at home on Tuesday, some of the doubters may have to have a rethink.
Things can change very quickly in football and there is no better example of that than Chesterfield, many people’s favourites for the title and currently second in the league, whose season threatens to be derailed by the loss of both their manager and 25-goal striker Kabongo Tshimanga within a few short weeks.
Notts play the Spireites twice in a manic March which also sees them visit Stockport, as well as several other teams currently fighting it out for a play-off place.
But if they can come through that with the squad unscathed and still within touching distance of the leaders, their fixture list for the remainder of the season looks much less daunting.
Burchnall will continue with that old football adage of taking one game at a time, and rightly so, and if Notts can continue their winning run all the frustrations caused by the weather and the Covid pandemic will be forgotten in what promises to be a thrilling conclusion to the season.
There has been much discussion about Notts’ strike force this season.
While Kyle Wootton, Cal Roberts and Ruben Rodrigues have established themselves as the main goalscorers, many fans have expressed worries that should any of that trio be injured, or lose form, Elisha Sam, Kairo Mitchell and Aaron Nemane have not hit the heights required to slot seamlessly in as replacements.
Those fears heightened last month, with several Football League clubs casting covetous eyes in the direction of the star trio, but eased when the transfer deadline passed with no departures.
Winger Nemane’s progress has been hampered by injury, though he is now back in action, but it is to Sam and Mitchell who head coach Burchnall is likely to turn in an emergency, or to give his first-choice attackers a break in a gruelling season.
Burchnall has always given both players his full support but they have had to make do with playing minor roles in Notts’ National League season so far. However, it is the Magpies’ latest run in the much maligned FA Trophy which has provided an opportunity for both to show that, given the opportunity, they can produce the goods.
In the 2-1 fourth-round win against Eastleigh, it was Sam who stole the show by scoring both goals. Having previously found it hard to even make the match-day squad for league games, this performance propelled him back into Burchnall’s thinking.
When the side suffered a three-match blip recently, Sam was given a start against Barnet in the league and grabbed his opportunity, opening the scoring with a poacher’s tap-in and then producing a sublime touch and finish for his second goal in a 6-1 romp. He was rewarded with another start in the 2-0 win over Eastleigh on Saturday.
Last weekend it was Mitchell’s turn to shine, popping up in the six-yard box to stroke home a late winner following a lively performance in the 2-1 win at FC Halifax Town which secured a home quarter-final Trophy tie with Wrexham.
Along with Nemane, both Sam and Mitchell have, by all accounts, acted as consummate professionals and are valued members of a tight-knit squad. Burchnall will be delighted that with their confidence boosted by scoring goals, they are now putting real pressure on the regular strikers to maintain the highest standards as Notts chase success in both league and Trophy.
Football, like New York, never sleeps, and that is particularly true when it comes to the transfer market.
With the Football League’s January transfer window over, and with Notts’ head coach Burchnall emerging with his squad intact, the transfer rumours could be expected to disappear until the season is over. Not a chance!
While it is several of his star players who have been linked with interest from above, Burchnall himself has his own admirers, the flowing football he has instilled at Meadow Lane having not gone unnoticed.
Asked about being linked with the vacant Bradford City manager role, Burchnall said: “There is nothing in it whatsoever. I hear I was on the betting list but I don’t read anything into that.”
Burchnall has always said he considers it a compliment to him and his coaching staff that Notts have several players in their squad coveted by clubs further up the football food chain. He is also intelligent enough to know that while no player left the club in January, that will not stop the vultures circling between now and June.
With Notts having ruled out any of their players joining a National League rival, Burchnall has the security of knowing the squad he has built will be available to him for the climax of Notts’ fight for promotion. The longer-term future of several of their key players is likely to hinge on the success or failure of that mission.
It may be purely coincidental that during the recent transfer window, the form of some of Notts’ key players dipped, including that of star strikers Kyle Wootton and Ruben Rodrigues, both having been the subject of admiring glances from Football League clubs.
What is not in question is that when they went through a quiet spell the team’s fortunes also suffered, as Notts failed to score in a draw at Wealdstone and a 1-0 defeat at promotion rivals Bromley, while Cal Roberts was the only one on target in an equally damaging 2-1 home defeat to Grimsby at the start of this month.
Of course other factors come into play to explain their quiet period, but what that run of poor results did flag up was how vital the goals of Wootton and Rodrigues, along with Roberts, are to Notts’ promotion chances.
Much of the focus regarding players potentially leaving the club is on leading scorer Wootton as his contract ends in the summer, allowing him to leave for free, making him a particularly attractive target for rival clubs.
Nott’s vice-captain last week reiterated that he is happy at Meadow Lane and totally focused on helping the club retain its Football League status.
His commitment to the cause is beyond doubt and he has become a highly impressive target man, whose game has improved dramatically this season under the guidance of Burchnall and Michael Doyle.
But he is also an ambitious young man and should Notts fail to go up this season it is certain other clubs will offer him the chance to further his career at a higher level.
The same applies to a number of Notts’ squad, but all that is for discussion another day.
From now until the end of the season Burchnall and his players have only one goal in sight and that is to fulfil all their ambitions to compete at a higher level by firing Notts back into League Two.
