These 3 things will be essential if Notts County are to challenge for League Two promotion | OneFootball

Highlights

Notts County are finally back in the Football League after four years in the Vanarama National League.

Meadow Lane will be home to the League Two contests in the 2023/24 season after the Magpies achieved promotion back into the EFL after a historic season that saw them lose only three matches in a memorable tussle with Wrexham at the summit of the division.

107 points wasn’t enough for the lone automatic promotion spot, but Notts County won promotion in the National League play-off final, needing penalty kicks to defeat Chesterfield at Wembley Stadium.

Can Notts County win back-to-back promotions?

Wrexham, unsurprisingly, are the popular pick to win promotion in consecutive years after taking home the National League title last season, edging out County by four points in the table.

At Notts, manager Luke Williams will have his own hands full trying to get the Magpies to be the first club to achieve promotion from the National League and League Two since Bristol Rovers from 2014-2016.

David McGoldrick replicating his Derby County form

The McGoldrick reunion at Meadow Lane in 2023/24 promises to be sensational if the forward can maintain some of the form that helped him score 22 goals last season in League One for Derby County.

Returning to one’s boyhood club is never easy but McGoldrick has the potential to be a massive asset for the Magpies in the short-term. He’s scored 134 goals in his EFL career, all of which have come at a higher level in the EFL pyramid than League Two.

26 players scored at least 10 goals in League Two last season, per fbref. If healthy, Notts County’s summer signing is well-suited for dominance at this level of football.

Macauley Langstaff cutting it in the EFL

Speaking of needing to have a double-digit goalscoring season, Macaulay Langstaff has to perform well this year for the Magpies to be successful.

Langstaff has been prolific at finding the back of the net, scoring 28 goals in 2021/22 for Gateshead F.C. in National League North before scoring 42 goals for Notts County in their promotion season, setting all kinds of records.

However, this will be Langstaff's first season of EFL football in his career, despite the fact he's already 26-years-old, it will be curious to see if Langstaff can produce in the Football League.

If he were good enough, you’d think a club would’ve bought him after his 28-goal season with Gateshead. If his game can translate, though, Notts County will be thrilled.

Goals were easy to come by in the National League and the hope will be that's the same in the fourth-tier.

Notts County matching League Two's best defensive sides

The goalkeeping trio of starter Sam Slocombe, alongside Tiernan Brooks and Archie Mair, combined to only surrender 42 goals in the National League in 2022/23. Slocombe is entrenched as the starter for 2023/24, and he will need to perform well for his side to find success in League Two.

The top six teams in League Two in 2022/23 surrendered fewer than 50 goals and the final play-off team, Salford City, allowed 54 goals but combated that as the only club in the play-offs to score more than 70 goals - given what McGoldrick and Langstaff managed last year, goals should not be an issue, heightening the need to match that with a tight defence.

Slocombe hasn’t played consistent EFL football since making 23 starts in 2017-18 for Bristol Rovers in League One, per fbref. He will need to be an above-average goalkeeper in League Two for his side to be successful and, of course, be aided by those defenders that line up ahead of him.