Top flight* League fixture
*Then known as Division One

Notts County 1     Southampton 0
Yates 38
 

Attendance:- 9,613
Referee:- R. Bigger (Croydon)
Weather:- Bright, sunny and warm
Corners:- Notts 6 Saints 4
Goal attempts on target:- Notts 5 Saints 5
Goal attempts off target:- Notts 5 Saints 3
Bookings:- Turner (Notts) for throwing ball away, Yates (Notts) for a foul, Rideout, Horne & Shearer (Saints) all for fouls, Dodd (Saints) for kicking ball away, Ruddock (Saints) for hand ball.
 
 

Notts County
Colours:- Black & white striped shirts, Black shorts, Black socks
League Position:- before match n/a, after mid-week games 12th/22
Manager:- Neil Warnock

1.   Steve Cherry
2.   Charlie Palmer
3.   Alan Paris
4.   Craig Short
5.   Dean Yates
6.   Paul Harding
7.   Dean Thomas
8.   Phil Turner
9.   Dave Regis
10. Mark Draper
11. Tommy Johnson

Sub not used: Kevin Bartlett
Sub not used: Chris Short
 

Southampton
Colours:- Blue shirts, White shorts, Blue socks
League Position:- before match n/a, after mid-week games 22nd/22
Manager:- Ian Branfoot

1.   Tim Flowers
2.   Jason Dodd
3.   Russell Osman *
4.   Barry Horne
5.   Richard Hall
6.   Neil Ruddock
7.   Matthew Le Tissier
8.   Glenn Cokerill
9.   Alan Shearer
10. Paul Rideout
11. Micky Adams

Sub: Alan McLoughlin *74
Other sub not used

Video of the match:- A report was shown on 'Central News East' the next day, this included a few near misses as well as the goal.
 

Inside Write
By Neal Hook
Page 3 matchday programme editorial as written by the Notts chief executive.

It's a very special night for Notts County as we stage our first home game in Division One for seven years and for some of us, it will be an especially significant moment when the players take the field. I'm thinking in particular about the 1,500 people who attended the famous meeting at The Astoria in September 1986 - and were told that we might not be in business for much longer. Staging a First Division fixture couldn't have been further from our thoughts and my major concern at that time was steering clear of the many people to whom we owed money! When you think of it in those terms, it shows just how far we have come since Derek Pavis and Neil Warnock joined forces and they deserve a lot of credit for transforming the fortunes of the club.
I’ll be absolutely delighted when tonight's game gets underway and I say that not only as a lifelong Notts County fan - but also for selfish reasons because it's logical to assume that things will start to calm down I've never known such a hectic summer behind the scenes and although we know it was bound to be far busier than normal, the amount of extra work has far exceeded our expectations. The fact that our fate was not decided in the play-off final until June 2 meant that we have had a lot less time than normal to do all that had to be done and even if we had lost against Brighton it would still have been difficult. But inevitably, the promotion triumph has caused all sorts of additional jobs to crop up and has created so much interest that I cannot remember the last time I walked into our General Office and didn't see a queue of people.
It's certainly a sign of the times at Meadow Lane when we find ourselves inundated with complaints after announcing that we are no longer selling season-tickets! I ought to explain that when the Directors did the club's budgets for the year, they set a cut-off point for selling season-tickets - as is our normal practise - based on the fact that we would still need a regular flow of money through the turnstiles each match. What we didn't expect was that the target figure would be reached well before the season got underway - nor that so many of our regular season-ticket holders would not have renewed by that time. We can only apologise to long-standing fans for any ill-feeling that may have been caused and we trust that any problems have now been rectified. It's just one of many examples which confirm the theory that success causes more problems than failure and if I am strictly honest, I cannot say I have enjoyed being in the First Division so far.
Don't mis-understand me, though. No one is more delighted than me to see Notts County back where it matters and now that we are up and running, I'm sure things will quieten down. It's an exciting time for everyone and as the management and players strive to make an impact on the field, my priority is to do all I can to help you enjoy your visits to Meadow Lane.
 

Nottingham Evening Post Report

DEAN SPRINGS TO SINK SAINTS
By David Stapleton

NEIL WARNOCK forecast a "cracking" local derby against Nottingham Forest on Saturday - after his Notts County side deservedly marked their First Division home-coming with victory over Southampton at Meadow Lane. Warnock believes that the match will be as skilful as last night's was ill-tempered and crude. He said: "Forest try to play football and allow their opponents to play. I think Nottingham fans are in for a treat - I only hope that the ground is full." County - whose capacity is a little over 20,000 -report that they still have tickets available. The 9,613 gate last night, on the occasion of the first Division One match at Meadow Lane for seven years, was around 1,000 below the club's expectations. But as it is the holiday season and Southampton do not possess great crowd-pulling power, Notts did not view it as a yardstick for the future. The sparsely populated terraces apart, the game - won by Dean Yates' 38th minute header - was hardly an advert for the game at the top.

PRESSURE
Passing moves were foresaken for frantic pace and physical excesses. It was plain which side were the biggest sinners - Saints had five players booked against the Magpies' two. The visitors' new manager, Ian Branfoot, admitted: "When you come to a place like this, the first thing is to compete. County have played the pressure game for three or four seasons - and they do it well. There were some late tackles, but I didn't think there was anything particularly nasty."
The game had hardly got under way when Southampton defender Barry Home was warned for a foul on Alan Paris. And the referee might have done everybody a service had he pulled out his book before the 34th minute, when Paul Rideout was cautioned quickly, followed by Home.

That Notts merited their first half lead through Yates, who had a generally fine match, there was no doubt. In their first attack, right back Charlie Palmer got in a toe-poke which Jason Dodd cleared from near the line. Then, skipper Phil Turner had two superb strikes -one a left-footer from the edge of the box which the 'keeper pushed away, the other a quickly-taken effort in his stride which glanced the top of the bar. Paris lashed in a shot which Tim Flowers held well, while Yates steered Mark Draper's deep cross past the far post before scoring. It was a case of Southampton getting their just deserts for, after they had conceded yet another free- kick, Dean Thomas's ball in was steered high into the far comer by Yates. Notts failed to sustain the shots ratio in the second half, though Tommy Johnson almost scored after moving on to David Regis's pass. He cut inside past two defenders and fired in a strong shot which Flowers saved well for a comer . Southampton - having put in very few goal attempts - were close to an unwarranted equaliser twice in the space of a minute near the end. Steve Cherry did well to claw away a scorching shot from Home and then made a brave double save from a largely restrained Matthew Le Tissier.
 
 

Up the Maggies footnote:
This was the great England centre forward Alan Shearer's one and only appearance at Meadow Lane. I remember buying the brand new Notts shirt from the club shop on the way into the ground before the match, there seemed to be loads of people wearing Notts shirts at the time, you'd see them being paraded around the town centre even on non-match days -  a sure sign that we were back in the big time.
 

Notts County Season 1991/92
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