Mess

I bought one of these a few years back and Mrs Mess just loves to play with it. Last year she managed to ignite a largish conifer which was next to the fence. Anyone remember the Fawlty Towers episode where Manuel comes out of the burning kitchen shouting “fire” followed by Basil joining in? Well after I heard my wife’s Manuel impression I took over as Basil. Fortunately the hosepipe was connected and close by so it was quickly put out. The lesson here is that conifers, even green ones are very inflammable which might surprise a few unsuspecting weed burners.

Good start but I'm surprised they haven't let more go. I suspect they'll bring in even more to replace them and it'll be last season all over again.

A fantastic win for Forest yesterday Steve Cooper got his game plan spot on. It wasn't pretty to watch but it was certainly effective. The possession stats say it all. Arsenal had 82% but were closed down time and time again as Forest put 10 men behind the ball and fought like terriers to smother the Arsenal build up. 3 shots on target for Forest and 1 went in to win the game. Forest would benefit next season from a couple more like Gibbs White who was easily man of the match. His speed and skill were what Arsenal were lacking who never looked like a title winning team. Lau

As a Notts fan I agree it was an unnecessary chant but I believe it came about because one of the Notts office staff who is a staunch Redneck was close to the bus and it was just a bit of fun. Lots of emotion and beer flowing at the time. Still looks bad though. I think this season has seen the best relations between Notts and Forest fans for years and years. Probably because with Notts in the National League and Forest in the Premiership the gap between them has never been so wide and Forest fans haven't viewed Notts as a threat. I think the attached graph is really interesting. L

Everyone was a hero yesterday, it was clearly meant to be. Great credit has to go to Luke William's and Ryan Harley's tactics. Many times this season Notts have worn out teams by keeping the ball thus forcing the opposition to chase after it. Yesterday Cook had to substitute Dallas, Colclough and Dobra because they were all knackered. I would guess these three were also decent penalty takers but that's not to take anything away from Archie Mair's brilliant performance in the shoot out. I highlighted the inspired goalkeeper substitution in my earlier post. Luke knows an

It was written in the stars. Not at our best but what a performance. The goalkeeper substitution just before the penalty shootout was inspired but there's no doubt that was the plan and it was executed to perfection. Notts superior fitness paid back in spades. Chesterfield were dead on their feet at the end. Bad luck Chessie. Jason sorted it for us. Luke Williams is going to be up there with Sir Jimmy. We're back. COYP.

I'm really surprised the Radfords have decided to give Nigel Clough another year. I read somewhere they believe he has made progress with the team yet if I'm not mistaken The Stags made the playoffs last season whereas this season they've just missed out. So where's the progress? I don't get it. I know full well it's none of my business how the Radfords spend their money but I will be very surprised if NC can bring success to The Stags next season unless he spends big in the summer. NC is nowhere near as good a manager as his dad but to be brutally honest his dad only really achieved w

A brilliant turnaround by Forest after missing a penalty early on then conceding but grabbing an equaliser on the stroke of half-time. An own goal and a penalty wrapped it up in the second half. A very timely 3 points after an 11 game winless run. The win lifts the Reds out the relegation zone but the bottom of the table is so tight things can all change again over the weekend. Another win for Forest on Saturday at Brentford would be fantastic the worry is they have only won 1 away game all season. There couldn't be a better time to make that 2. Their GD could still be the difference

One of my dear late dad's party pieces was for him to sing the introduction to Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) much to the amusement of my cousins. RIP Harry

Notts County's veteran Jim O'Brien is such an amazing role model. He's 35 years old and always gives 100%. He scored his second hat trick for Notts as they ultimately recorded an excellent win away at relegated Maidstone but not before the Pies had let them back into the game after taking a 3-0 lead. Sadly it was all in vain as Wrexham dispensed with Boreham Wood to claim the National League title. Congratulations to them. The huge cash injection from Hollywood has started to pay back. A long way still to go however. Boreham Wood played really well but Wrexham are just so strong with thei

Wrexham's convincing win over Yeovil last night has made it even harder for Notts to take the National League title. It's still mathematically possible for the Magpies to nick it but it's looking very unlikely now. The Wrexham win condemned Yeovil to relegation which is remarkable if you remember they were playing in The Championship only 10 years ago. On Saturday Notts travel to already relegated Maidstone for what should be an easy win on paper but as Brian Clough famously said the game is played on grass not paper lol. Kicking off at 6:30 Wrexham are at home to Boring Wo

If Notts play like they did in the second half yesterday then even if they end up in the playoffs they will walk it. But just to remind everyone Notts could still nick it. Yeovil who are Wrexham's opponents at The Racecourse ground on Tuesday evening have drawn 19 games this season, yes 19. They are well versed in parking the bus as Notts know having been held to a 0-0 draw by them last November and just to add, Yeovil drew 1-1 with Wrexham earlier this season. I watched the Barnet Wrexham game yesterday and whilst I'm unapologetically biased I thought Wrexham could have easily

Probably familiar to a few on here but there's a town in South Yorkshire called Penistone. I wonder how the locals pronounce it. Penistown perhaps? It made me laugh out loud when I drove through it back in the 70s.

It's hard for me to be objective about yesterday's game having supported Notts for nearly 65 years so I was pleased Oz thought a draw would have been a fair result which is my thought too. Wrexham are a team of good footballers who are well versed in the dark arts and are also quite physical whilst Notts have lacked the physical side to their game all season and have topped the table based on their footballing skills alone. Looking at this and previous seasons it's arguably not enough and I'm inclined to agree having watched Notts get “roughed up” by teams of clogging giants on several oc

Notts brushed aside Wealdstone yesterday with a dominant display in front of nearly 10000 at Meadow Lane. On a pitch reminiscent of Wembley Notts played their passing game close to perfection with Macca Langstaff's goal bringing another record for the Notts goal machine. Austin opened the scoring after 7 mins with an excellent goal whilst Vincent scored the third with an equally impressive finish. Thanks to Halifax Notts are back on top of The National League making Mondays top of the table clash with Hollywood backed Wrexham a very nerve racking affair. Mansfield did very well at Swindon