Not feeling like yourself…
As the sun set on the year 2023, Luke Williams hugged Notts County goodbye, pressed one of his magical, glowing, football-genius fingers to their foreheads and promised he’d always “be right here”, before hopping in his spaceship home to Swansea.
Seven weeks on, Meadow Lane is still in mourning. The Magpies just haven’t been the same since that E.T. moment.
Oldest club in the Football League they might be, but Notts certainly didn’t act their age on Saturday - throwing the kind of tantrums you only ever see from someone who’s truly unhappy.
When their players weren’t squabbling with Wrexham or whinging at the referee, they were arguing with each other. Jodi Jones spent most of the game flailing his arms and stomping his feet like Kevin Patterson on Harry Enfield and Chums, whilst Macaulay Langstaff hid away in his bedroom, sulking at being unable to find the ball in the six yard box.
It’s our fault really - we shouldn’t have laughed. But despite 94 goals, two red cards, and five stoppage-time point savers at The Racecourse this season, nothing has been quite as entertaining as the sight of Notts supporters cavorting around the away end for a full minute before realising their equaliser had been ruled out for handball.
We will always have some respect for Notts - a good club who pushed us into a title race for the ages. But right now they are in a huff and are generally unpleasant to be around. Their wailing pleas for Luke to stay all failed and Meadow Lane has been visibly crestfallen ever since. A disallowed goal at The Racecourse was apparently one dose of emotional pain too many.
Once they stop blubbering at photo albums of Luke holding the National League Play-Off Cup aloft, Notts will probably come out the other side feeling stronger. There is quality galore on their books and it may not be the last we see of them this season - whether that’s watching out for their results in a charge towards the top three or a chance meeting in the play-offs. But their beloved gaffer has gone and they just need to get over it - because promotion is still very much there for the taking.
Indeed, it could have been a different story on Saturday if Arthur Okonkwo - whose posture somehow always seems to mirror a bored man standing in line at the Post Office rather than a keeper - hadn’t made some superb saves to keep County out. The Magpies can also consider themselves unlucky to have come up against our strongest defensive display for weeks. We can argue forever about whether the ball hit David McGoldrick’s hand or not, but our backline were worthy of a clean sheet. The sound of that final whistle felt good.
If Notts aren’t feeling quite themselves right now, our opponents on Tuesday never really knew who they were in the first place.
An experimental football club in an experimental town, Milton Keynes Dons have produced a list of results in 23/24 that’s as confused as their own identity. They looked dead certs for the title on that first day of the season when they gave us a good hiding on home turf, but they have been up and down ever since - unable to decide whether they are a good side in patchy form or a bad one punching above their weight. Manager Graham Alexander - who looked a bit like one of those CEOs that plays Steven Bartlett podcasts on his way into work and has motivational posters with quotes like “defeat is just a mind-set!” slapped on his office walls - was booted out in October and has been replaced by Mike Williamson, who is trying to find some consistency.
The season is nowhere near over yet and MK play in the same division as their arch-rivals Wimbledon, but they confusingly billed their fixture with Wrexham as the “biggest of the season” - with their marketing team apparently trying to play a part in energising the club into real promotion contenders.
On Tuesday’s showing, it’s still tricky to work out where MK will end up. For long spells Wrexham looked stronger, but then things turned so bananas it was impossible to make any accurate judgements on quality.
Arthur was caught in dreamland by a cross drifting through the Buckinghamshire sky, panicked, and appeared to carry the ball over his own line - only to realise the lino had blinked at just the right moment.
MK Dons certainly had a case, but captain Dean Lewington threw the kind of hissy fit that would have embarrassed Notts County and was told to leave the field, calm down, sit in the bath and have a Magnum. Will Boyle - who had only just rebranded himself from villain to hero a week ago - followed Lewington down the tunnel minutes later after getting a second yellow.
1-1 it ended - and there was more aggro at the end, with MK’s manager suggesting Wrexham’s reputation was playing on the mind of officials.
Williamson’s insinuation that a great conspiracy exists to gift Wrexham results is unhelpful and inaccurate, but that’s apparently what we have to deal with now whenever a decision goes our way.
Who knows, if Notts or MK had just focused on the football instead of getting all worked up, they might have beaten us. We’ve lost to plenty of sides this season who stuck to their guns, stayed true to their intentions, and simply played football.
But hopefully Gillingham won’t have figured that one out. On to Kent.
COYR.