Left Magpie March: On the Eternal Recurrence of a Gnat’s Chuff

Early February’s optimism was dampened. Two defeats and a draw, only one win, in the four games since the last dispatch. “It might just last”, I wrote, after six wins on the bounce. It did not. What was I thinking? 

However, the draw was away to the runaway league leaders, with 10 men for the final assault. And in between all this curbed enthusiasm came a 5-0 victory, in which Lee Ndlovu, a squad player, scored a brace and assisted two more. Then again, in the next game he was dispatched with a straight red card. 

This is all really to say – there is a challenge in making the judgement call on what it all means. Bromley are the best team in the league, and we may well have won, away, without the red card.

Shrewsbury compressed the space – they made it tight as a gnat’s chuff, indeed, to which we shall return. Also, we missed key players for that kind of encounter. Then Tranmere were appalling, but you have to beat who you play, and 5-0 was robust enough. But then Grimsby came with all the dark arts, and Notts saw another dubious dismissal, and Notts were unable to transcend.

To the detail. 

The draw at Bromley saw Notts recover from a goal down with a Jodi Jones penalty and then hold out for the point after Scott Robertson saw red in the 83^rd minute.

The defeat to Shrewsbury at ‘The Croud Meadow” was very poor. Notts created little and lacked energy and ideas for breaking down an opponent who improved as the game progressed, after going ahead early in the second half. Their league table position flatters to deceive, as this was their third consecutive home win under new management. If they keep this going, they could be up there, since it is, after all, as tight as a gnat’s chuff in the higher reaches. More later.

The thrashing of Tranmere was memorable for Lee Ndlovu’s two goals and two assists and also for a fall out between Matthew Dennis and Jodi Jones. Dennis took the pen which was allocated to Jones, who then retreated to the halfway line in disgust.

The Grimsby loss was a case of ‘ye dinnae score, ye dinnae win’ as Notts missed clear chances and then reacted to the red card with attacking changes, only to concede in 85 minutes. Grimsby were aggressive in deeds and celebrations and the ref played the endemic panto villain, but the game should have been won and it might well have been if the mighty Jatta had been available. Martin Paterson’s assessment was dignified and inspires confidence for ‘bounce-back-ability’, opting to focus on our shortcomings in the first half as opposed to grievances from the second.

So, we don’t know yet what February will come to mean.  But here is the thing. The top of league two is once again as tight as a gnat’s chuff. My understanding of the genealogy of this colloquialism is that it can refer to miserly behaviour or a state of very fine margins. Very narrow, restricted space or movement. Like the top of League 2.  When others drop points, Notts fail to capitalise. But the other side of that coin is that when Notts drop points, others fail to widen the gap. Both can be true.

As February closes, the top 5 have pulled away. Notts occupy fifth place, two off the automatic zone with a five-point advantage over Crewe in sixth and eight points clear of Chesterfield, who are outside the play offs. Bromley are maybe out of reach, with 68 to Notts’ 61, but the three clubs above, our rivals right now for going straight up, have 62-24 and we have a game in hand over Swindon in fourth.

It is all, very, very much to play for, as we head to Walsall, or rather to the Bescot, to that infamous section of the M6 which is, always and aptly, very, very much the chuff of a gnat.

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