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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Leigh Curtis

Notts County head coach Ian Burchnall responds after Dover Athletic mind games

Notts County head coach Ian Burchnall laughed off Dover's pre-match mind games after the Magpies romped to a 3-0 victory at the Crabble.

Ahead of kick-off, fans were treated to a rain-based music playlist which poked fun at the fact the last two games had previously been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

The two clubs were involved in a very public row after February's game was called off with chairman Jim Parmenter slamming the decision as "unbelievable". And he claimed that the postponement could have only been down to "undue pressure" from Notts who strongly denied that was the case.

Read more: Defender channels inner van Dijk in Notts player ratings

Read more: Burchnall issues update on top scorer after back issue

But last night fans were treated to songs such as the Flood by Take That and Phil Collins' hit I Wish It Would Rain Down. Asked whether there was any further gamesmanship out on the pitch with the two sides set to face each other again next Monday, Burchnall said he had no complaints.

"I didn't hear the songs before but I am sure we can knock up a decent playlist together for Monday," he joked "I didn't hear any of it, but somebody told me when I came into the dressing room. But there was no gamesmanship on the pitch.

"I spoke to their coaches and they are good guys. As I said, they have had a difficult job here and I think they've done a very good job to keep them motivated. They were motivated against us, but other than the music playlist there was no gamesmanship."

Goals from Ed Francis, Callum Roberts and Ruben Rodrigues secured a big victory for Notts as they turned on the style in the second half after Myles Judd was sent off for a second bookable offence.

The victory lifted Notts up to fifth in the National League table as they closed in on a play-off spot for the third consecutive season Notts were frustrated in the first half in a game they dominated from start to finish as goalkeeper Alexis Andre pulled off a series of fine saves. The Magpies had to remain patient for the breakthrough and Burchnall was happy with the performance.

"We put on a really good performance, a very controlled one and we dominated the game," he said. "We created loads of chances and probably could have scored more but it took us a while to get that first.

"But after that, we controlled the game well and didn't give them anything. Credit to their keeper he produced three or four fantastic saves and kept them in the game in the first half.

"But what I liked is that behind the ball we were very stable. They didn't have a shot on target. We almost had nothing to do, the little bits that Sam Slocombe he did very well. We stayed calm, focused and did our job."

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