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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Oliver King

Luke Williams highlights difficulty of Boreham Wood test as importance of fans amplified

With the days counting down towards Notts County's play-off semi-final against Boreham Wood, Luke Williams has expressed that anything can happen as he sets his sights on creating yet another chapter in this incredible season.

The Magpies found out who will travel to Meadow Lane this Sunday (12:30pm kick-off) earlier in the week to compete for a place in the final, with Luke Garrard's side overcoming Barnet at The Hive Stadium.

With Bromley also confirming their place in the other semi-final following their victory over Woking on Wednesday evening, it meant both sides who had finished the lowest in the play-off places managed to overcome those above them.

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The two eliminator results further prove that positioning in the table counts for nothing in this one-off encounter - Williams agreeing that there is little separating those who finished in the play-off positions.

"Yes, I suppose it does - people talk a lot about momentum and if that's a thing, I don't know if that's a real thing or not because I don't know the research into that.

"But on the day, we know that anything can happen and I don't think there is much difference between any of the teams that a fixture is a given.

"We all are of a similar standard to each other playing in these one-off games, so I am not shocked and I don't think there is a huge amount between the teams - it's noteworthy but not a big shock."

The Wood have proved to be a difficult opposition for Notts in recent seasons - winning two of their eight league encounters settled by a one-goal margin, including five draws since their drop to the National League.

Garrard's side is one of only two teams, along with Bromley, the Magpies have failed to beat this season - drawing both games earlier on in the season.

Boreham Wood are also the only team with a better defensive record than Notts having conceded 40 goals for the entire campaign, with only one team able to come from behind to win against them - that being Wrexham when they clinched the title nearly two weeks ago.

Notts have shown their powers of recovery numerous times throughout the season, most notably against Barnet and Eastleigh at Meadow Lane - Williams detailing his thinking behind the importance of getting that first goal this weekend.

"The first goal in football generally is important," Williams said.

"We have been behind this season and won games convincingly, but ultimately they are a very good side and very good sides have normally very good statistics attached to them, but we have some very impressive ones as well.

"At this stage, you are not going into a football match and a team is going to roll over and present you with easy chances, it just won't happen.

"We know how good they are and are aware of how good they are - I don't know about previous seasons but we have struggled against them this season, and they have struggled against us because neither team has won a game so we are expecting another really tough game."

It looks set to be another special afternoon at Meadow Lane, with an update from the club confirming that over 14,000 tickets had been sold for this weekend's match.

Having already had two 16,000+ attendances this season, the Notts head coach is relishing the opportunity to put on a show for those in attendance - amplifying the lift the atmosphere gives his players on a matchday.

"I think it's brilliant, it's such a brilliant boost for us.

"The energy that is created inside the stadium at the moment is really something that the team and staff can feel, it's really fantastic.

"We are going to try and make sure that we help to create the atmosphere, the club will try to do different things to help the fans try to be in the mood to sing and make noise to create those special occasions when the ground is full like that."

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