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12,843 football fans gathered at Meadow Lane on Saturday afternoon to break the non-league attendance record as goals from Kyle Wootton and substitute Kairo Mitchell lifted County up to fifth in the National League.
Frontman Wootton bagged his seventh goal of the season to open the scoring after 55 minutes, firing home a volley thanks to a pinpoint delivery from Joel Taylor.
Mitchell doubled the Magpies’ advantage just three minutes after entering the field of play, poking home after a smart pass from Ruben Rodrigues. It was a day where everything was destined to go County’s way and Ian Burchnall’s men ensured just that.
The hosts were certainly up for the occasion from the get-go and made no mistake of letting opponents Solihull Moors forget that. Rodrigues struck the woodwork after just 10 minutes of play and in the 35th minute did the same again through Frank Vincent.
Moors goalkeeper Ryan Boot made a brilliant save from point-blank range to deny Rodrigues from his eighth goal of the season. Vincent couldn’t keep his follow-up effort from sailing over the crossbar as the County piled on the pressure
Adam Rooney went closest for the visitors with an off-target header with just over 10 minutes left of the game, but he couldn’t seem to kick the Moors into gear as they simply lacked the intensity throughout.
Man of the Match Joel Taylor hasn’t put a foot wrong since his move to Meadow Lane from fellow National League outfit Chesterfield earlier this year. Throughout the contest, he relentlessly made his way up and down the left-flank like a true wing-back.
“Three points and a clean sheet, fantastic day. It felt brilliant out there with the 12,000 fans, when the first goal went in the stadium just erupted, it felt beautiful.
“At half-time, the gaffer said to keep doing what we were doing. It was frustrating, hitting the post twice in the first-half, but we knew goals would come and as you’ve seen, we came out in the second-half all guns blazing and scored two great goals.”
Manager Ian Burchnall gave his thanks to the record-breaking fans and the club for their hard work in such a memorable achievement.
“I thought the boys really rose to the occasion, the crowd was just magnificent. 12,800 in National League is a fantastic achievement. We wanted to put a show on and I think we did that, we were excellent today.
“They’ve [Solihull] been brilliant, and proved to be a very difficult team to break down. I thought we took control of the game straightaway, we were brave with the ball and moved it around well. The goals were excellent, the all-round performance, defence and attack, was very good today.”
The win pushes Notts County up to fifth in the National League, just four points away from top of the league Chesterfield who sit in the only place that guarantees automatic promotion.
It is still early days as we are still in November but the Magpies are undeniably heading in the right direction as they aim to bring the Football League back to Meadow Lane.
A disappointing afternoon for Solihull, a renowned defensive anchor in England’s fifth tier who were carved open by County’s spirited efforts as the 12th man proved to be just as crucial as the 11 on the pitch.
The Moors drop to eighth, one place outside the play-off spots and have a tough run to follow as they host promotion hopefuls Chesterfield and Grimsby Town in the next 10 days.
Notts County are back in action on Tuesday night under the lights at Meadow Lane as they play host to Rochdale in the FA Cup First Round after forcing a replay last weekend in Greater Manchester.
