Notts County: Grimsby Town, Bradford City repeat would surely spell promotion | OneFootball

If Notts' midweek victory over Grimsby can spark a run similar to their win over Bradford in December, it would surely be enough for promotion.

Summary

Notts County will hope that their victory over Grimsby Town on Tuesday night can mark the start of a run similar to the one that saw them win eight league games out of ten earlier in the season.

The 2-0 win at Blundell Park in midweek was a timely three points and, perhaps more crucially given the Magpies’ recent run of form, a fantastic response to what was an abject performance at Wimbledon last Saturday.

It was a reaction akin to the one shown in the 3-0 win over Bradford City in the middle of December, which also came after one of Notts’ worst performances of the season, in the 3-0 loss at Salford the week prior.

After ending a run of just one win from their previous six league games on Tuesday night, Notts will be hoping that victory can spark a similar run of form to the one which followed that Bradford game. If they can replicate that 10-game spell, it would surely be enough to secure them one of the three automatic promotion spots.

Notts must now target a repeat of that New Year run

In the weeks after that Bradford victory just before Christmas, Notts looked like a team who were destined for automatic promotion.

Between 21st December and 8th February, they won eight of their 10 league games, drawing and losing just once apiece. That run included impressive away wins over MK Dons, Cheltenham Town and Gillingham, all places where the Magpies have tended to struggle over the years.

Their only defeat during that stretch of games came at the hands of table-toppers Walsall and, even then, Stuart Maynard’s side will perhaps have felt they deserved more from the game on the balance of play.

Since then, it’s been a frustrating and challenging few weeks, with Notts badly lacking creativity at times and looking far from their fluid best.

Tuesday night’s second-half display seemingly brought confidence back to a group of players who have struggled to find it in recent weeks and, by the end of the game, Notts looked a different side to the one that has laboured so much of late.

Buoyed by the return of the influential David McGoldrick, Notts must now use the Grimsby win as a way of drawing a line under what has gone before. If it can be the start of a similar run of form to what followed the Bradford win, it would surely be enough to see them safely over the line and into League One for next season.

Maynard’s men are now sat on 61 points and just one behind Doncaster Rovers in the final automatic promotion spot. A final tally of 81 points has been enough to secure automatic promotion from League Two in two of the last four seasons.

A similar run would surely be enough to see Notts promoted

If teams in the fourth division continue to take points off each other, as has been the case all season, it’s possible that the required tally could fall even lower this time around.

With that in mind, Notts may only need to find one more winning run in order to get one foot back in the third tier.

They face plenty of tricky tests on the horizon, with big clashes against Chesterfield, Crewe, Bradford and Doncaster all to come in their final 10 games. However, with games against Newport, Harrogate and Salford also ahead of them, there are plenty of opportunities to pick up crucial points.

Several sides have passed up opportunities to break clear of the chasing pack and lay a genuine claim for automatic promotion. If Notts can find form over the next few weeks, they could see themselves safely into the top three come the end of the season.