Notts County 1 v. Doncaster Rovers 2 - EFL League 2

Saturday 3rd May 2025. EFL League 2. Notts County (0) 1 ( Alassana Jatta 90+5) v. Doncaster Rovers (2) 2 (Rob Street 18, 28). Attendance: 15,427 inc. 2,013 away fans

Notts County: Bass, Bedeau, Platt, McDonald (Macari 61); Jones, Gordon (Jarvis 62');,Abbott (Hinchy 85), Palmer, Grant (Austin 73), Whitaker (Edwards 73), Jatta. Unused subs - Slocombe, McGoldrick

Doncaster Rovers: Sharman-Lowe; Sterry, Bailey, Anderson, Maxwell (Nixon 73); Crew (Westbrooke 83), Broadbent; Molyneux (Ennis 85), Clifton, Gibson (Sbarra 73); Street (Sharp 83). Unused subs - Lawlor, McGrath.

League 2 Preview: It’s the last Saturday of the 2024-25 football season and, as of 3pm, the League 2 table was still pretty much in a state of flux.

An abacus busting amount of multifarious permutations at the top end of League 2, where the relegation places have already been bagsied by Carlisle United and Morecambe at t’other end of the table, meant that, with each team in the division having just one game left to play, the following outstanding business would be concluded this afternoon: The league title was up for grabs and could still be won by either Doncaster Rovers or Port Vale, who have both already gained promotion. The other automatic promotion spot, for clinching third-place, was also a mathematical possibility for Bradford City, Walsall and Notts County; the Bantams occupied third before today’s games, but in common with Walsall, they’d been experiencing a run of indifferent form of late.

AFC Wimbledon and Salford City still needed to secure their respective places in the play-offs today and if they failed to do so, Grimsby Town, Chesterfield and Colchester United were all hoping to pip them at the post. In fact, a win for Grimsby would’ve see them leapfrog over today’s opponents at Blundell Park, AFC Wimbledon, in the table. Walsall and Notts County were guaranteed at least a play-off spot regardless of this afternoon’s results and if Bradford City didn’t hold on to third place, they too would still have the consolation of competing in the play-offs to look forward too. Have you got all of that? Because, there’ll be a quiz later on, to see if you were taking the blindest bit of notice.

The whys and wherefores. I don't have one of those split screen facilities on my antiquated mobile phone, where I can update ‘in-play’ events from elsewhere. So you’ll just have to bear with me, scribbling down a few observations while watching today's game of choice and attempting to keep abreast of whatever else might be going on, out there in that wondrous place they call Planet Football. So why pick this game out of a whole myriad of choices that were available to me? Logistics mainly. I’m jetting off to Dubrovnik from East Midlands Airport later on, so I needed to find something fairly local-ish.

Nobody in their right mind, would want to go to either Derby County v. Stoke City, or Leicester City v. Southampton today (especially at the exorbitant prices those two host clubs charge for tickets); Mansfield Town v. Exeter City was sold-out. Grimsby Town v. AFC Wimbledon was ever so slightly too far away for me to make my check-in at EMA on time, and… Oh, bugger it! County v. Rovers, even without taking all of the above into consideration, was a tempting enough prospect in it’s own right. And besides, there will be icicles forming in Satan’s underpants before I ever start justifying the whys and wherefores of my football watching activities

Although Doncaster deservedly claimed the three points on offer at Meadow Lane this afternoon, to clinch the League Two title; there was a stand-offish demeanour about County’s efforts, that semed to suggest they had been more than happy to settle for a place in the play-offs all along anyway, before a ball had even been kicked. They were competitive, after a fashion, albeit only in dribs and drabs, but they also seemed reluctant to actually bust a gut and hatch any kind of salvage mission, once they had gone two-goals behind, thereby foresaking the opportunity to pursue the potential of a top three finish.

Instead they seemingly preferred to keep something in reserve, while avoiding anything too strenuous or risky, lest they might pick up a knock, with the most likely climax to the end of their campaign, being a two-legged semi-final and the possibility of a winner takes all Wembley final. You might claim that as professionals, Stuart Maynard and his side would never approach any game in such a frame of mind.

However, if (a small, two-letter word, with massive connotations) that genuinely was the case, then why did they leave the ominous attacking threat of David McGoldrick on the bench all afternoon, as an unused sub, if they’d intended to chase the game, once Rovers had established a commanding lead with a whole hour of the game still left to play? Let's face facts: McGoldrick will be a starter in (both/all three* of) County’s play-off games, because that is what he was being saved for.

After a fairly frantic and disjointed opening ten minutes, Rovers began to apply themselves. It was no surprise when Rob Street opened the scoring in the 18th minute after the ball fell perfectly for him from Jordan Gibson's blocked shot, gifting Donny’s number 9 with the simplest of opportunities to plant the ball in the back of the Pies goal from close-range. The hosts went close to equalising within a minute, when Charlie Whitaker headed over from Kellan Gordon's right-wing cross.

Jodi Jones cross/shot was blocked by Tom Anderson as Rovers well-drilled defence demonstrated the kind of resilience and togetherness that wins league titles. Jones returned moments later and tested Ted Sharman-Lowe who needed to claw the Welshman’s delivery into the area from beneath the crossbar.

Ten minutes after netting the opening goal, Street was back again, taking down Jamie Sterry’s aerial delivery before advancing towards the Pies goal and lobbing the ball over the advancing Alex Bass, to double Donny’s advantage. Sharman-Lowe made light work of dealing with chances for both Gordon and Jones before the break… but as the game reached the halfway point it was visibly slipping away from County. HT: 0-2

Street almost claimed his hat-trick early in the second-half, but after working his way into a great position on the right-hand side of the area, he fired a diagonal shot against the far upright. Charlie Crew then missed a great chance to increase the visitors lead, when he couldn't keep his header on target after connecting with Jordan Gibson’s free-kick. Rovers were effectively seeing the game out now as their 2000+ followers sang them home. Elsewhere, Port Vale were losing 0-1 at home against Gillingham as they had to settle for the runners-up spot.

Bass thwarted Zain Westbooke as the game passed the ninety minute mark. In the fifth and final minute of added time Alassana Jatta scrambled home a consolation goal for Notts, who finished the afternoon sixth-place. FT: Pies 1 v. Donny 2. Congratulations to Doncaster Rovers, on becoming League 2 Champions for the 2024-25 season 👏

Notts County will now face AFC Wimbledon in the play-off semi-finals, after the Dons won 0-1 at Grimsby to consolidate their place in the top-six and condemn the Mariners to (at least) another season in the basement division. Walsall won 0-1 at Crewe, but had to content themselves with a fourth-placed finish, after having been early season favourites to win League 2, after Bradford City beat Fleetwood Town 1-0 when Antoni Sarcevic directed a George Lapslie shot into the bottom corner of the Cods goal in the 90+6th minute of the game, in front of a bumper Valley Parade crowd of 24,033.

Salford City came from being 2-0 down at already relegated Carlisle United to draw 2-2, but fell out of the play-off berths because Chesterfield won 0-1 at Accrington Stanley to sneak up on the blindside into seventh place. Two years ago Notts County finished as runners to Wrexham, but won promotion to the Football League by beating Chesterfield on penalties in the National League play-off final at Wembley. It was a game that the Spireites had dominated, although the Magpies undoubtedly deserved to go up by virtue of their efforts across the whole season. There could possibly be a repeat of a final between the same two-sides in this year's League 2 final. Football, eh!?

This merry old soul is flying off to Croatia imminently. But, I’ll be back in time for some of the play-off games, including both of the League 1 semis, between Charlton Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers. I arrive back at East Midlands airport approximately four hours before the first-leg at Adams Park kicks off, so please keep the M42 and M40 clear and save me a parking space. 🇭🇷 Hvala vam!