Top flight* League fixture
*Then known as Division One

Notts County 1     Manchester United 1
Johnson (pen) 10                                    Blackmore (pen) 70
 

Attendance:- 21,055
Referee:- K. Morton (Bury St Edmunds)
Weather:- Sunny, fine
Corners:- Notts 4 United 10
Goal attempts on target:- Notts 5 United 5
Goal attempts off target:- Notts 2 United 4
Bookings:- Chris Short (Notts) for a foul, Bartlett (Notts) for kicking ball away, Schmeichel (United) for dissent, McClair (United) for dissent
 

Notts County
Colours:- Black & white striped shirts, Black shorts, Black socks
League Position:- before match 18th/22, after match 18th/22
Manager:- Neil Warnock

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

Sub not used: Gary Lund
Sub not used: Richard Dryden
 

Manchester United
Colours:- Red shirts, White shorts, White socks
League Position:- before match 2nd/22, after match 2nd/22
Manager:- Alex Ferguson

1.   Peter Schmeichel
2.   Paul Parker
3.   Dennis Irwin
4.   Steve Bruce *
5.   Neil Webb
6.   Gary Pallister
7.   Andrei Kanchelskis
8.   Paul Ince
9.   Brian McClair
10. Mark Hughes
11. Ryan Giggs +

Sub: Clayton Blackmore *45
Sub: Mark Robins +79

Video of the match:- Recorded for goal reports.
 

Nottingham Evening Post Report

MAGPIES TURN ON THE STYLE
By David Stepleton

AS IF to lessen the culture shock for Manchester United, the Meadow Lane dressing room area was given a fresh lick of paint before Saturday's absorbing game with Notts County. With that, any respect for what is an institution rather than a football club ceased abruptly. United's championship chasers, harried at every turn, were lucky to escape without a licking of the more painful sort. For the second week running, County's basement fighters carried out magnificently the shrewd battle plans of Neil Warnock and Mick Jones. This time it brought even greater satisfaction because it was an unremitting exercise over the full 90 minutes.
The regular fans dotted in only the second capacity crowd at the ground for more than a decade would have blinked twice when they saw skipper Phil Turner handed the job of policing United goals man Brian McClair. But Turner, his confidence boosted by recent performances in midfield, was a revelation. With Notts leading through Tommy Johnson's tenth minute penalty, Turner made a fine, vital interception at the far post. with McClair waiting to head in the centre on the stroke of half time. If McClair, often forced into innocuous deep positions, was submerged so too were Mark Hughes by the masterly Craig Short,and Ryan Giggs by teak tough Chris Short, who made a brilliant 57th minute tackle on Giggs when Alan Paris committed his only blunder of the afternoon and teed the youngster up in front of goal.
Charlie Palmer helped ensure that Ukraine flier Andrei Kanchelskis had one of his least menacing matches, while Neil Webb in midfield was firmly suppressed by Dean Thomas. United were so put off by Notts' rigid man for man marking system that they never built up with any fluency. And they would have lost only their third League game of the season had  Notts not erred so badly again in one-against-one situations with the 'keeper.
In 58 minutes Johnson, sent running through the middle by Kevin Bartlett, allowed Peter Schmeichel to win the battle of wits and make the save. Almost immediately he got goalside again but, forced wide, there was no pace on the finish. With 69 minutes gone Bartlett, from Mark Draper's pass, escaped through the middle but Schmeichel saved. Bartlett was thus deprived of a triumphant return in his first full game since November 2. It proved particularly costly as within a minute United equalised through Clayton Blackmore's penalty, struck unerringly into the same comer as Johnson's earlier. Notts could claim that their award was the more clear cut, even if referee Kelvin Morton needed a linesman's help before deciding that Bartlett was brought down by the goalkeeper, Paul Harding having won the ball superbly and provided the pass.
When Draper and Paul Ince clashed in the area it seemed innocuous - indeed it was the Notts player who ended on the floor, but the referee showed no hesitation this time. Credit United for revealing something of which champions are made They have desire, conspicuously absent from many Old Trafford teams, and tried hard for the three points in the closing stages. Hughes, eluding Craig Short at last, twice had good shots saved and Blackmore volleyed over from 25 yards. But United failed to create anything like the same chances as Notts and Steve Cherry could reflect on the quiet life for once. Paradoxically, Schmeichel was given more anxious moments, Harding twice failing to get a crucial toe end to careful passes.
It's Leeds and Arsenal next in the League for Notts, but on this disciplined, pugnacious form they won't be pushovers for anyone.
 

Up the Maggies footnote:
This fixture attracted the best Meadow Lane crowd of the season, even bigger than Forest, I have never seen so many people queing outside the ground more than an hour before kick-off. After a poor run of results leading up to Christmas, Notts seemed to have got their act together again and it looked as though we were on course to stay up at this stage, we'd come away from the City ground with a 1-1 draw the previous Saturday and had beaten both Chelsea and West Ham in our last two home league games. Manchester United could so easily have been our third successive home scalp as Harding, Bartlett and Johnson (twice) had great opportunities to put Notts 2-0 ahead in the 2nd half. Chris Short completely played Ryan Giggs ("The new George Best") out of the game to the point of him being substituted, the Notts fans in County Road had taunted Giggs all match with chants of "Spotty virgin". Mark Hughes and Brian McClair typically incensed the crowd with bad tackles and mouthing at the referee, for which both ended up in the book. United clearly felt they had a divine right to beat the likes of Notts County but were extremely fortunate to come away with a point. The incident that led to United's penalty was an absolute joke, Ince literally ran into Mark Draper and knocked him flying, an absolutely diabolical decision by the referee. Still, this draw was one of the better memories of a largely disappointing single season in the top flight.
 

Notts County Season 1991/92
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