A final of three goalkeepers helps Notts County back into the Football League
So often crucial matches and important finals are decided by a moment of brilliance or something special. Even more regularly they are defined by a mistake. When goalkeepers are involved it is almost impossible to tell which it will be.
Having rarely been tested throughout 87 minutes of football, Chesterfield ‘keeper Ross Fitzsimons was justified in beginning to think he would not be the villain in his side’s National League Promotion Final against Notts County on Saturday.
As County reserve stopper Archie Mair watched on from the bench, he surely did not believe that he would be the Wembley hero at the end of a season in which he made just four appearances.
“I’ve only been here since January, but right from the off I could tell how much work the lads and the staff have put in,” said the on-loan Norwich man afterwards. “I had it in my head the whole time how much everyone at the club deserves this.”
Only called into action sporadically against a team that has scored more goals than any other in the top five tiers of English football, Fitzsimons had little reason to feel anxious as County’s John Bostock lined up a free kick at an awkward angle on the edge of his penalty area.
Yet the 28-year-old, who played 59 times for Notts County between 2017 and 2020, allowed Bostock’s audacious yet softly struck effort to squirm under his body and into his net, sending the game beyond 90 minutes and allowing a play-off classic to ensue that would ultimately be decided by two brilliant penalty saves from Mair.
“I don’t think I experienced enjoyment until the final penalty kick crossed the line,” Notts County head coach Luke Williams said post-match, having seen his side struggle to impose themselves for much of this showpiece occasion.
The tactical plan of Chesterfield boss Paul Cook had been near-on perfect up to the point of Bostock’s equaliser. His team had exploited weaknesses in County’s unique, possession-heavy style to go ahead early and then keep the free scorers at arm’s length. Even the way Cook’s men re-took the lead in extra time was a result of precision attacking, yet another Fitzsimmons error took the contest to penalties.
Maybe it was always destined to be this way for County. After they effectively lost all hope of automatic promotion in a topsy-turvy defeat to Wrexham on Easter Monday and having come from two goals down to beat Borehamwood in last weekend’s Semi-Final, it would not have done their season justice had this crowning victory been without jeopardy.
They created all of their own problems in a nervy first half showing at Wembley, rarely looking like turning their dominance of the ball into anything meaningful and regularly seeing their high defensive line exposed by an opponent that had finished just one place but 23 points behind them in the league table.
An early error from Fitzsimons’ opposite number looked like it would define the day. After keeping out an indirect free kick that he had given away for a double touch when taking a goal kick within three minutes, Sam Slocombe was unable to deny Chesterfield from 12 yards moments later.
As Andrew Dallas ran behind the County backline for the first, but certainly not last time, Slocombe got a hand to the effort that followed but clattered Dallas in the process – leaving referee Matt Corlett with no choice but to point to the spot. Dallas went down the middle and Slocombe dived to his right, rewarding Cook’s plan of action early and setting the tone for the first 45 minutes.
In fact, for the 82 minutes that followed the Dallas penalty, County rarely looked like finding a crack in the blue wall that stood before them. Bostock’s free-kick equaliser arrived at a time when hope was beginning to be lost.
Chesterfield captain Jamie Grimes was particularly resolute, not allowing County’s record- breaking striker Macauley Langstaff any freedom to influence proceedings. Langstaff, whose 42 league goals this term all came from open play, did not register a shot on target until he took his side’s first kick in the shootout.
“We were able to dig in and be tough, show resilience,” said Williams. “People just had to put their bodies on the line, make tackles and win headers. I think we showed that we can do everything possible at this level to be successful. The thing that has stopped me sleeping more than three hours each night is the worry that we would hit a bump that we could not quite get over.”
There was nothing that Slocombe could have done about the goal that saw Chesterfield re-take the lead just two minutes into extra time. Armando Dobra’s shot took a slight deflection as it nestled into the top corner of his net, vanquishing the relief-tinged elation that greeted Bostock’s goal and filling Wembley with pure tension once more.
As has been the case all season, County did not stop believing, perhaps earning their slightly fortunate second equaliser. Fitzsimons flapped at a cross and allowed a Ruben Rodrigues shot to bounce over his head and into the net in the 108th minute.
Slocombe was no longer on the field by the time penalties began. Replaced by his understudy in the final minutes, it was Mair who unexpectedly ended the afternoon as the hero of the piece.
“It’s a really tough decision to make,” explained the Notts County boss. “You have to remove a guy that gave everything in the game on a big occasion. But they’re the calls that you have to make. I feel that Archie is an extremely good penalty goalkeeper. He has the edge on Sam when it comes to penalties.”
Mair spectacularly kept out Darren Oldaker and Jeff King, meaning an outrageous Bostock Panenka attempt that bounced back off the crossbar was irrelevant – “I thought I’d just go and save the next one” was the Scotland under-21 international’s blunt assessment. He did not, but Cedwyn Scott, who missed an injury-time spot-kick to equalise in that dramatic defeat to Wrexham, scored the decisive attempt and sent more than 20,000 fans behind the goal into raptures.
After seeing their team relegated from the Football League for the first time in an existence of more than a century and a half. Having missed out in the play-offs in every attempt to re-claim their place since. Having endured and enjoyed this remarkable season in almost equal measure. They can now forget about the beauty and brutality of the National League for at least a year.
