Manager pleased with Saturday's Buxton workout...
Keith Curle was pleased with how the Magpies dealt with difficult conditions in their first pre-season fixture.
Notts fielded completely different line-ups either side of break at The Silverlands, where they faced non-league Buxton.
In a 1-1 draw, Marc Roberts gave the hosts the lead with a second-half penalty but Alan Sheehan levelled during stoppage time with the second spot-kick of the game.
On a tricky pitch, County attempted to keep the ball down and at times produced some neat build-up play.
“It was a good workout against good opposition and their team went about it in the right way as well,” Curle told Magpie Player.
“You could tell that the lads were desperate to get out there and play some of the real stuff, a real 45 minutes.
“The pleasing thing for myself, because of the difficult conditions, the players handled it reasonably well.
“They maintained the way we want to play, which is to pass the ball, and there will be times during the season where we need to play against the conditions.
“Now’s not the time, we want a passing mentality within the team and it can embarrass you if there’s a bobble or a rut but the pleasing thing is that the players didn’t lose confidence.
“They still showed for the ball and got a decent amount of rotation in our play.”
Curle added that the match was an extension of the work that has been carried out in the two weeks building up to the match.
“We said to the players before they went out that it is a training session,” he said.
“Yes, we know the opposition play two or three leagues below us but it’s not about the result, it’s about the individual fitness levels that we’re getting out of the players.
“It’s about making unselfish runs when you know you’re not going to get the ball but you have to make it.
“It is a fitness training session as well and I’ll be honest, as a player I hated pre-season games, even more so against the lower oppositions.
“This is the mental side now that we’re trying to adjust with the players, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing against, our mentality on the ball has to be the same.”
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