Notts County following in Wrexham AFC's footsteps with League Two trend could point to promotion | OneFootball

Notts County following in Wrexham AFC's footsteps with League Two trend could point to promotion: View

Notts County’s impressive away record continued on Tuesday night when they produced another late show to snatch a point against Barrow.

A stoppage time penalty from David McGoldrick ensured the Magpies left Cumbria with a point and extended their unbeaten away run to seven games. They remain the only side in League Two who are yet to taste defeat on the road this season.

It was the second time in two weeks that Notts have stolen a point after the 90th minute, with another McGoldrick equaliser having thwarted Chesterfield on October 12th.

These are far from the only two examples when Notts have come from behind this season, and Stuart Maynard’s side are displaying a level of character and mental fortitude that will stand them in good stead for the rest of the season.

Wrexham were a prime example last season of how the ability to bounce back from deficits can set you up for a successful season. Notts could well be on their way to replicating that this term.

Notts are showing character in abundance

Although the performance was disappointing for the most part on Tuesday night, Notts once again showed the type of fight and resolve that is vitally important when you want to compete at the top end of any league.

Despite Sam Austin, Scott Robertson and George Abbott all missing out with injuries, alongside long-term absentees Jodi Jones, Curtis Edwards and Conor Grant, the Magpies’ never-say-die attitude was evident once again, and they earned themselves what could prove to be a very valuable point at the end of the season.

Notts have firmly established themselves as League Two’s comeback kings in the early stages of the season and last night saw them claim yet another point from a losing position.

Their current tally of 10 points from the eight games in which they’ve gone behind is significantly higher than anyone else in the division.

Yet again they scored late, with McGoldrick’s equaliser Notts’ third of the season in stoppage time, and their fourth after the 81st minute mark, a total bettered by only Crewe and Morecambe.

Expand that stat a little further, and Maynard’s men have scored 12 second-half goals, while conceding just two (the lowest number of anyone in the division). The flipside of this is that they have only scored nine first-half goals, while they have conceded 10.

Notts are quickly becoming a team that are very difficult to kill off. Time and again now, they have recovered from a poor start to take a point or better away from a game.

This is a trait which is very much a hallmark of successful sides, especially in the lower leagues.

The three teams who claimed the most points from losing positions last season were Crawley, MK Dons and Crewe, who all finished in a play-off place, while Mansfield and Wrexham (two of the automatically promoted sides) were both within the top seven sides according to that metric.

Wrexham also scored six goals beyond the 90-minute mark, a tally Notts are already well on their way to matching, if not bettering.

This just highlights the fact that if Notts are able to continue this trend of fighting their way through adversity in games, they will likely have the top end of the League Two table firmly within their sights.

Notts may struggle to maintain their constant comebacks

While Notts have shown an impressive fighting spirit so far and are certainly much stronger mentally than they were last season, it’s definitely fair to question how much longer they can keep digging themselves out of holes after falling behind.

They’ve conceded the second-most goals in the league inside the first ten minutes, with five, which backs up the belief among the fans that the Magpies don’t tend to start games particularly well.

With injuries piling up and tricky tests against Doncaster and Crewe coming up next month, logic would suggest Notts cannot keep relying on their second half displays to pull themselves out of trouble.

The difficulties they may face against some of the division’s strongest sides were evident in their home defeats to Gillingham and Port Vale. On both occasions, Notts fell behind in the first half and, despite dominating large parts of the second half, were unable to breach two resolute defences.

If the trend of the Magpies conceding first continues, they may find life difficult in the so called ‘six pointers’ at the top end of the League Two table, something which was a big issue for them last season and has threatened at times to hold them back once again this term.