Match report from the Magpies' pre-season clash with Tervarit Dream Team...
Notts County’s youngsters gave a very good account of themselves, as the team made it two wins from two in Finland. Tyrell Waite and Romello Nangle scored impressive goals in a 4-1 triumph over Tervarit Dream Team on Sunday evening, which also saw two trialists find the net.
First team manager Chris Kiwomya featured a much less experienced side than the Wednesday night victory against Kemi Kings. Key players Alan Sheehan, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Gary Liddle, Dean Leacock and Francois Zoko were rested, while Bartosz Bialkowski, Joss Labadie, Enoch Showunmi and Andy Haworth watched on from the bench.
Fabian Spiess was originally meant to start in goal but a knee injury in the warm-up led to his omission from the matchday squad. Goalkeeper coach Kevin Pilkington stepped in at the last minute.
Romello Nangle was first to score for the Magpies with a stunning hit in the sixth minute. The lively frontman skipped past a home defender with some clever footwork and proceeded to drive unstoppably into the top-right corner from 25 yards.
Nangle was involved again for the second, which allowed a trialist to break into the box unopposed. The midfielder slotted the ball to the left of the goalkeeper to put Notts two goals up inside eight minutes.
The same trialist nearly added his second shortly after, when Mustapha Dumbuya raced down the right wing to fire in a low centre. The first touch finish saw the ball swept narrowly over.
Tyrell Waite also came close with a stunning strike from range. However, he watched the ball cannon back off the right-hand post.
At the other end, Pilkington was called into action for the first time with a smothering save at the feet of Adrian Rizvani, after the frontman had capitalised on a poor backpass. Another defensive error then allowed energetic midfielder Coco to square for the Tervarit skipper Janne Kauppila, whose driven attempt crashed into the side netting.
Pilkington made his best save of the match following the interval – a point blank block that kept out Teemu Pahtila’s ferocious strike four yards from goal. County also spurned a fantastic opportunity moments later through half time substitute Haworth, whose back-post volley flew well off target.
Waite did not fail to get his name on the scoresheet, when he was played through on goal by the trialist frontman, who had latched onto Haydn Hollis’ excellent grounded pass out of defence. Waite’s first touch took him away from his marker and his second placed the ball low past the goalkeeper.
Notts’ fourth and final goal of the evening arrived in the 77th minute, following an overlapping run by Dumbuya that was read by Haworth. The full-back delivered a low cross into the path of the trialist striker, who slammed high inside the left-hand upright with a powerful half volley.
Another second half sub Enoch Showunmi almost made it 5-0 late on but his low shot was directed straight at the goalkeeper. Then, with just a minute to spare, County were disappointed to concede a soft goal from the left wing, which saw the ball rifled high into the roof of the net.
County, again, looked impressive in attack and moved the ball with confidence all over the pitch. Although there were a number of mistakes, this was to be expected at this stage of pre-season and the focus is on ironing out the errors in time for the first league game of the campaign on 2 August.
The Magpies now have just one friendly left in Finland, a trip to JJK Jyväskylä. A Finnish top-flight outfit, the fixture is likely to be the team’s toughest encounter of the trip.
Gallery, highlights and post-match reaction to follow...