Notts County manager Neal Ardley admitted Tuesday’s encounter with Solihull Moors was ‘a poor game of football.’
The two sides’ first ever meeting proved to be a closely-contested affair with few chances at either end.
And Ardley acknowledged it wasn’t the greatest of spectacles.
“It was a poor game of football,” he said after the match. “Solihull came here to make sure they kept a clean sheet and asked us to defend set pieces and long throws – and they do it brilliantly.
“While we obviously wanted the three points, the massive positive is the clean sheet when you consider some of the goals we’ve conceded recently.
“That clean sheet enabled us to nearly go on and win the game in the last minute.”
The result leaves Notts 15th in the Vanarama National League, four points outside the play-off places, and Ardley is satisfied with the start his side have made to the season given the circumstances surrounding the club in the summer.
“We haven’t set the world on fire but, If I’m honest, anyone who thinks we should have within a month is unrealistic,” he said.
“We’re still trying to get things right behind the scenes to grow this club, while dealing with a Saturday-Tuesday schedule every week and a group of players who are still getting to know each other and getting fitter.
“They’re wearing the shirt with pride and working incredibly hard. At times we lack quality, but at other times we’ve been really good.
“We’ve got to be judged over 46 games, not just the first month of the season.”