Paul Hart reflects on the 2-2 draw at home to Scunthorpe United...
Notts County Caretaker Manager Paul Hart felt that his players reacted well after a difficult week and were unlucky to come away with only a point to show for their efforts in the 2-2 draw at home to Scunthorpe United on Saturday.
Hart took control of the first team, alongside Head of Academy Coaching Mick Halsall, on a temporary basis this week, as Notts look for a permanent successor to Shaun Derry and Greg Abbott, who parted company with the club on Monday.
The Caretaker boss was delighted with the attitude of the players in what was a difficult game at home to Scunthorpe, who are themselves battling to move away from the relegation zone in Sky Bet League 1 this season.
“Pleased to get a draw, I think that’s important,” Hart said after the game. “Disappointed as well. Two set-pieces, which has to be sorted out, but overall pride in the players’ performance.
“I think they went out there today a team who were extremely disappointed at the beginning of the week, but gave their all and I think wanted to let Shaun and Greg know that they were thinking about them and if they continue with that sort of effort and endeavour they’ll be fine.”
Hart also praised the Notts fans, who reacted to the performance of their side with a vocal show of support at Meadow Lane on Saturday.
“We need our supporters behind us, we need to hear them and I think we did and I thought, especially in the first half, we played extremely well,” he added.
“We got control of the ball in difficult situations, they were tough and they were big, but we got hold of it and possibly a bit unlucky not to have scored more than one. But I’m very proud of them and they should be proud of themselves.
“The set-pieces were difficult to manage, especially corners as they were just sticking on Kevin [Pilkington] and just piling in, almost like a line-out, but after the first one we dealt with that reasonably well,” Hart continued.
“It was disappointing but they rolled their sleeves up and I thought it was a great goal for us, a great strike and at that point, if we could have got another one, I think we’d have put them out of sight.”
Subscribers can watch the full post-match interview with Paul Hart on Magpie Player.