Notts County’s final home game of 2021 ends in triumph as a win over Altrincham progresses the Magpies into the Fourth Round of the FA Trophy

Goals from Kyle Wootton, Ruben Rodrigues and a stellar Man of the Match performance from Jayden Richardson saw Notts County progress into the Fourth Round of the FA Trophy after a 2-1 victory over Altrincham.

Rodrigues, just 25-years-old and reportedly scouted by various Football League clubs such as Blackburn Rovers, Lincoln City and Blackpool, opened the scoring after 14 minutes. Matt Palmer was fouled inside the area which saw the Portuguese step up and cooly slot his penalty away.

The Magpies found their lead evaporate shortly after however as Sam Slocombe’s blunder gifted Tom Hannigan an easy goal to level the game at 1-1 after 21 minutes.

Loanee and star man Jayden Richardson was yet again involved in the winner for County. Latching on to Rodrigues’ beautifully weighted pass, the wing-back squared the ball across goal to Wootton who fired home his 13th goal of the season and his 50th for the club.

The hosts were frustrated towards the end of the tie with a period of sustained pressure on the backline from Altrincham as the game looked like it was slipping away from their grasp.

Slocombe made up for his earlier error with a spectacular stop to deny visiting captain Jake Moult as increasingly sloppy play continued to be the theme for the Magpies in the second half.

In worrying fashion, Wootton limped off at half-time for the hosts as Rodrigues moved up top alongside Kairo Mitchell. County’s number nine has been the subject of interest from clubs such as Portsmouth ahead of the January transfer window.

The Magpies travel to King’s Lynn Town on Boxing Day and will be hoping to include their top scorer in the travelling squad as the year turns and the business end of the season begins.

Much to the delight of over 1,000 supporters at Meadow Lane on Saturday night, the whistle blew and Notts County progressed into the Fourth Round of the FA Trophy which is due to be played in the second week of January.

Magpies boss Ian Burchnall spoke about the victory and the change of tactics after Wooton’s worrying substitution.

“I thought we had control of the game really, up until maybe the last 20 minutes where we started to make poor choices in the final third – too many counters and we didn’t manage them very well, and we let them back in it.

“We changed system a couple of times, when Wootton came off we went to two sitters and a 10, then we went to 3-4-3, so we played around with a couple of things and lost a bit of continuity and flow.”

The Magpies’ National League clash against Chesterfield has been called off due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Spireites camp and it played a part in Burchnall’s team selection with more choice across the board.

“I’d have rotated a bit more [if the game wasn’t postponed]. We had a game on Tuesday night, and several players probably wouldn’t have played. We had to play around with a few ideas throughout the day.”

The result caps off a positive year at Meadow Lane for the club with Burchnall igniting new passion and ambition into the club. However, more has to be done and if Notts County want to gain promotion to the Football League for the first time since a relegation season in 2018/19, victories will have to be more convincing than this one.