Magpies centre-half Liam Chilvers spoke to his club's official website ahead of his side's League One game against Carlisle at Meadow Lane tomorrow, Chilvers happy with the defensive steel County have been showing in recent matches :
“From a defensive point of view there has been a clean sheet in the last three wins, everyone who has come into the team under the new manager (Keith Curle) has done well. It has been a funny season for myself, I went out on loan and then came back here and did well, and then a new manager came in and I had to do it again. But, it has worked out OK for me personally, the gaffer said we would all get chances and he has stuck to his word.
“It is a completely different style of management now, he seems a lot more relaxed and chilled out, obviously he tells us what to do and I think maybe in his mind he is thinking that he has told us so it is down to us to implement it. He has obviously got a belief that we are going to do what he has asked us to do, it gives you a little bit of confidence and it comes across a bit subconsciously that he has got faith in what we are doing, so that is definitely positive for us.
“We have done team-shape stuff but only as a team and not specifically as a defensive unit, but he said what he wanted from each part of the team when he came in and he made that pretty clear, and I think that is what everybody has done and it has led to clean sheets. But, we are all going in and trying to do our best and then it is down to the manager to make his decisions, but it has been good to be involved and obviously with the results it has been good for the team as a whole.
“We have got some hard games coming up, but if we can get some results here it will really tell what situation we will be in come the end of the season. But, they are games to look forward to because they are good teams and you want to play in those games. It is very tight for the play-offs, but as long as we concentrate on our own games and get results then we have got a chance. It is something to play for, there is nothing worse than having nothing to play for, so it gives us something to aim for.”
In team news for Notts County tomorrow we obviously have to start with the news that veteran striker and pantomime villain Lee Hughes will be serving his first match of a three game suspension after being sent off at Rochdale on Tuesday night for a reckless challenge on home goalkeeper Peter Kurucz. Elsewhere meanwhile the Magpies will also be missing injured trio Rob Burch, Stephen Hunt and Jude Stirling.
Goalkeeper Burch having been sidelined all season after first having a toe problem and then undergoing a knee operation, while left-sided defender Hunt can beat that length of time out, the 27-year old not featuring for the Magpies in 13 months now as he struggles to shake off persistent ankle problems. Finally comes right-back Jude Stirling, a long throw specialist who has had some nightmare games against Carlisle in the past, Stirling currently out with a short-term thigh injury.
In better news for recently appointed Magpies boss Keith Curle though left-back Alan Sheehan is back in training after pulling out during the pre-match warm-up of County’s home win over Chesterfield last weekend with a glute muscle strain. Sheehan’s withdrawal seeing Jon Harley, who wasn’t originally in the matchday squad, have to rush back to Meadow Lane despite being only halfway through a haircut in Nottingham city centre.
Definitely available for County tomorrow though, if one of them isn’t asleep with jet lag, are loanees Kieron Freeman and Damion Stewart after both players were absent for the Tuesday night Rochdale game as they were on international duty. Nottingham Forest left-back Freeman playing the first hour of Wales under-21s 4-0 home victory over Andorra at Wrexham, while Bristol City centre-half Stewart was about as much further afield as you can get as he played all but the last two minutes as Jamaica defeated New Zealand 3-2 at the Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland.
The referee for tomorrow's match is Surrey FA man Carl Berry from Cheam and he will be assisted down the lines by Mike Blackledge from Peterborough and David Storrie from Leeds. Meanwhile the fourth official is Neil Hair who is also from Peterborough.