3rd tier* League fixture
*Then known as Division Three

Notts County 3     Huddersfield Town 0
Darper 5
Johnson 65, 87
 

Attendance :- 5,499
Referee :- John Moules (Erith, Kent)
Corners:- Notts 7 Huddersfield 5
Shots on target:- Notts 9 Huddersfield 5
Shots off target:- Notts 8 Huddersfield 3
Bookings:- Hardwick (Huddersfield)
 

Notts County
Colours:- Black & white striped shirts, Black shorts, Black socks
League Position:- before match 12th/24, after match 8th/24
Manager:- Neil Warnock

1.   Steve Cherry
2.   Charlie Palmer
3.   Chris Withe
4.   Don O’Riordan
5.   Dean Yates
6.   Nicky Law
7.   Phil Turner
8.   Mark Draper
9.   Gary Lund
10. Wayne Fairclough
11. Tommy Johnson

Sub not used: David Kevan
Sub not used: Willie McStay
 

Huddersfield Town
Colours:- Yellow & black checked shirts, White shorts, Yellow socks
League Position:- before match 9th/24, after match 12th/24
Manager:- Eoin Hand

1.   Steve Hardwick
2.   Simon Trevitt
3.   Graham Mitchell
4.   Andrew May
5.   Ken O'Doherty
6.   Andy Duggan
7.   Mick Byrne *
8.   Chris Marsden
9.   Mick Cecere
10. Craig Maskell
11. Mark Smith

Sub: Peter Withe *45
Sub not used: Gordon Tucker

Up the Maggies note:
If one match during the early part of the Warnock era marked a turning point and hinted at the extraordinary double promotion to come, then this was it. Teen sensations Tommy Johnson and Mark Draper had both made a handful of appearances prior to the match, but the Huddersfield fixture was the first time they had started a senior game together. It was only seven days after the dreadful crowd crushing tragedy at Hillsborough, on the night of which it was difficult to see how the football season could continue. Moments before the players walked out onto the pitch from the Meadow Lane end, there was a tannoy announcement designed to prepare the crowd for what was going to happen prior to kick-off - The club Chaplain was going to make a speech and there would then be a few minutes silence in respect for the 95 fans who had lost their lives. Perhaps anticipating that the Chaplain was about speak there and then, the fans fell silent before being asked to, and the next thing we knew the players began walking out and we could actually hear the sound of the studs on the concrete path that led out from the dressing rooms. Everybody continued to watch in total silence as the teams made their way to the centre circle before the Chaplain addressed the crowd. It was an unforgettable scene. The match itself was equally memorable - Coming out of the ground afterwards, there was a genuine buzz that we had just witnessed future stars in the making, and so it proved.
 

Video of the match:- The match was videotaped by the club, the chaplain's address to the crowd and the goals were included on a VHS end-of-season compilation video.
 

Nottingham Evening Post Report

YOUNGSTERS ARE THE TONIC
By David Stapleton

THE young ones brought the smiles back to Meadow Lane after the sombriety which enveloped the ground on Saturday. And it was fitting somehow that Notts County's matchwinners should have been Tommy Johnson and Mark Draper who, by dint of their ages, had a common thread with many of those who died so tragically at Hillsborough. For Johnson his two goals were his first in League football, while Draper had scored only twice previously. The 18-year-olds, elevated from the YTS ranks to full professional status at the season's start, made stunning strikes to seemingly wreck Huddersfield Town's last promotion chance. They also showed their precocious talents generally on a day when the entire Notts performance was fresh and exuberant.

RESPECT
You could have beard a pin drop when the teams walked out side by side, led by the Sheriff of Nottingham and the respective club chairmen. A wreath in Liverpool's red and white covered the centre spot. Magpies' chaplain, the Rev Clive Andrews, expressed the hope that rival fans could now start treating each other with more respect, making grounds safer places. Huddersfield made the better start and Steve Cherry stretched splendidly to his left to keep out a Mick Byrne header. But Draper's superb fifth minute goal inspired Notts to turn in their most fluent performance for many weeks. The Long Eaton product gathered a loose ball near the centre circle and scurried for goal. He brushed aside the challenges and planted a low shot into the goalkeeper's bottom right hand corner. From then until half time it was a battle between Notts and experienced Huddersfield goalkeeper Steve Hardwick, who had invited a sending-off soon after Draper's opener.

SUPERB
Phil Turner, captaining the side in the absence of the suspended Geoff Pike, gave Johnson a clear run at goal with a quick through pass which left Huddersfield square at the back. In attempting to round the advancing Hardwick, Johnson was badly obstructed, but the referee settled for the yellow card.
Hardwick made superb saves from Gary Lund, who deserved three goals to himself, and Johnson. Huddersfield, fortunate not to be irretrievably in arrears at the interval, improved in the second half. Cherry, still not fit enough to take goal kicks, emulated some of Hardwick's saves and 'kept with far more authority again. His taking of cross balls was exemplary and it seems that the worst of a nasty instep injury is over. It was against the run of play when Johnson increased the Notts lead in 65 minutes. Draper prodded the ball forward to put the North Eastener clear and he veered inside before hitting a savage left-footer from outside the box into the 'keeper's left hand corner. However, Notts had recovered control well before Johnson's second goal in 87 minutes. Cherry's long throw found Turner on the left touchline and the ball shuttled between Chris Withe and Don O'Riordan. O'Riordan beat a defender and when his shot was blocked, Johnson was on hand to shoot into the far corner from close range. Johnson made a promising full League debut at Cardiff four days earlier, and his positive running, clever ball control and bludgeoning left foot were warmly appreciated by a crowd 500 up on the last Saturrday .home match against Wigan. Notts, now eighth, are likely to run out of matches in their pursuit of the sixth play-off spot, but their advance under Neil Warnock fosters great encouragement for next season.
 
 

COUNTY IN THE MOOD
By David Stapleton

YOUNGSTERS Tommy Johnson and Mark Draper revealed the fighting mood of the Notts County dressing room after Saturday's 3-0 drubbing of Huddersfield Town had lifted the club four places to eighth in Division Three. "We're determined to keep going while there is still a mathematical chance of promotion," said the 18-year-olds whose goals dealt Huddersfield's play-off chances a serious blow. The rest of the results, unfortunately, didn't help Notts. Preston, whose sixth spot is the last of the play-off positions, won 1-0 at Chester to maintain their six points advantage over the Magpies. Fifth placed Fulham are still seven points in front after a 1-0 victory at Wigan, while Brentford's 2-2 draw at Sheffield United offered them encouragement in their bid to break into the top six. Brentford, one position above Notts, had the same number of points with two games in hand. Two-goal Johnson, proudly carried off his first man of the match award, a bottle of champagne, and revealed: "I've never tasted the stuff before in my life. But hopefully it won't be my last taste. It was an incredible feeling to score my first goals in League football, and I was especially pleased with the first from Mark Draper's pass. Normally, I would have taken the ball down the line, but I was too shattered at that stage. So I cut inside, tried a shot and it flew in. My second was easier after Don O'Riordan's shot was blocked and spun out towards me. I remembered what the manager had said beforehand about following everything in. Really, I might have been lucky enough to score a hat trick in only my second full League game. Early on in the match I was clean through on the goalkeeper. I knocked the ball past him and he ran straight into me. I felt it should have been a penalty but the referee gave a free kick." Draper said of his superb goal, which gave County an early lead and dictated the pattern: "Their defence split down the middle and I just kept on running. Then I hit my shot and it went into the far corner. I was pleased to be involved in Tommy’s first goal and generally it was a pleasure to take part in such a good team performance."

Manager Neil Warnock felt it was the best display since he arrived at the club in January. "I wouldn't have liked to have picked a man of the match, though I thought that Gary Lund was outstanding. Young Tommy scored a superb first goal but then he gets those sort most days in training. Mark Draper also pleased me no end. I asked him to come back into the side with a smile on his face. He had struggled a bit recently, mostly I think because he's been playing too many games for a lad of his age. The rest obviously did him a bit of good and he took his goal in magnificent fashion.” Warnock went on: “Phil Turner and Lund had a telepathic understanding, we looked solid in central defence and the full-backs played well. When we asked Steve Cherry to make saves he did so."

Notts issued a questionaire to the crowd at Meadow Lane on Saturday asking whether they wanted the ground to become an all-seater, whether they preferred any standing to he in one part of the ground, whether they would like to see perimeter fencing removed (other than the visitors' section) and if they considered the ground to be a safe one. The closing date for replies is Wednesday.
 

Notts County Season 1988/89
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