2nd tier* League fixture
*Then known as Division One

Notts County 1     Wolverhampton W. 1
Simpson 34                                            Thomspon (pen) 70
 

Attendance :- 8,569
Referee:- Ian Cruickshanks (Hartlepool)
Weather:- Sunny and warm
Bookings:- Emenalo & Murphy (Notts), Ferguson, Thomas & Froggatt (Wolves)
 

Notts County
Colours:- Black & white striped shirts, White shorts, Black socks
League Position:- before match 23rd/24, after match 18th/24
Manager:- Mick Walker

1.   Steve Cherry
2.   Colin Hoyle
3.   Michael Emenalo
4.   Phil Turner
5.   Shaun Murphy
6.   Dean Yates
7.   Tony Agana
8.   Andy Legg
9.   Gary Lund
10. Gary McSwegan
11. Michael Simpson *

Sub: Rob Matthews *75
Sub not used: Paul Cox
Sub not used: Reece (GK)

Wolverhampton Wanderers
Colours:- All Gold
League Position:- before match 12th/24, after match 6th/24
Manager:- Graham Taylor

1.   Mike Stowell
2.   James Smith
3.   Andy Thompson
4.   Darren Ferguson
5.   Paul Blades
6.   Peter Shirtliff
7.   Mark Venus
8.   Geoff Thomas
9.   Mark Rankine
10. David Kelly
11. Steve Frogatt

Sub not used: Paul Birch
Sub not used: Neil Emblem
Sub not used: Paul Jones (GK)
 

Video of the match:- Broadcast live by Central Television (to the Midlands ITV region only) as "The Central Match Live" from 2:30-4:55pm. Alan Parry was the commentator with Trevor Francis.

The Matchday Programme editorial
"First Person" by Derek Pavis
PROVIDED that everything has gone according to plan (and there's no guarantee of that at the time of writing), I think it's true to say that this is one of the most significant days in the long history of Notts County. When you consider that this is only the second time a new Main Stand has been built since this club took up residence at Meadow Lane, that must be the case. It's been a long, hard slog throughout the summer for the staff of John Mowlem, and the many sub-contractors, and I'm sure you will want to join me in thanking them for their efforts. At long last, they are now able to sit back, take in the view and be proud of what they have achieved. I'm certainly proud of what we have achieved in the past few years and when you think of how this ground looked just four years ago... it's been an unbelievable transformation. What gives me special satisfaction is to be able to say that I've taken a big stride towards fulfilling a promise that I made to myself when I took over the club from Jack Dunnett.

I was determined to provide the best for Notts County's loyal hard-core of supporters and I see this as a major step in that direction. It is only one phase of the overall plan and I realise that better than anyone. The next step is to build a team which can take us into the Premiership and stay there and although I'm constantly being told that I'm dreaming, we'll see about that. Hopefully, now that we have a magnificent all-seater stadium, people will no longer be slightly embarrassed about saying they support Notts County.

I hope it will make you look forward even more to your trips to Meadow Lane and from a practical  point of  view,  the new Main Stand has provided us with unlimited potential for commercial activities. Needless to say, I’m looking for these to generate a lot of extra income each year and now that the ground has been totally re-developed with modern floodlights and a much improved playing surface, we only have one priority. It's all about getting success on the field -and that's the difficult part. No matter how much money you throw at it, you can never be absolutely certain that you will win enough matches to be successful but I can assure you that we fully intend to try. We will continue to do it in our own way and you know me well enough by now to realise that I won't do anything which will put the club in financial difficulty. But the aim of everyone at Notts County is to eventually get into the Premiership and everything we do is now geared towards making that happen.

If we can get a successful team together, hopefully people will flock to Meadow Lane to use our excellent facilities but if they don't, you won't hear any complaints from me. I’ve never been so "low" as I was in April when only 6,318 turned up to see our important clash with Tranmere Rovers. I couldn't believe it when the attendance figure was shown to me and I even suggested to Neal that he should go back and check it. That's all in the past, though, and I've promised myself that I won't complain about small crowds anymore. It's a free country and people will come to Meadow Lane if they want to.

COUNTY PAY PENALTY FOR MISSED CHANCES

ANDY Thompson's penalty 19 minutes from time brought Wolverhampton Wanderers a hard-earned draw at a sun-soaked Meadow Lane yesterday. The point takes them up to join the pack of clubs on four points jostling behind Middlesbrough, the Endsleigh Insurance League first division's only team with a 100 per cent record. A draw was probably about right, ensuring that Notts County celebrated the opening of their new main stand with their first point of the season. The Derek Pavis Stand, named after the chairman, has completed the remarkable transformation of a ground that was once one of the most ramshackle in the league. "The next step is to build a team which can take us into the Premier League," Pavis wrote in the programme. That may take rather longer than the summer that it took to put up the new stand, but County were worth their point against the pre-season promotion favourites and they might have had all three, missing some gaping opportunities to make the game safe before Thompson's equaliser.

Wolverhampton did not look like a team to take the league by storm. If they are to do so, they desperately need Steve Bull, whose absence yesterday spoke volumes for his importance to his side. "There is a great potent force missing when Steve is not there and it was a question not of replacing him with one player but with two, pushing Froggatt forward as well as bringing in Rankine," Graham Taylor, the manager, said. Froggatt was the most effective Wolverhampton forward in the first half and he might have settled his side's nerves after only ten minutes as he sped away from Yates, but he shot straight at Cherry as the goalkeeper came out, Cherry hanging on to a fierce shot as he dived. The next time Froggatt got free, as Ferguson and Rankine combined, he made no mistake, but his strike was disallowed for offside. The television replay suggested that he was just the right side of the defender when Rankine's pass was made.

By then, County were looking increasingly the livelier team against their more ponderous opponents and they almost took the lead on the half-hour as Lund met Legg's corner with a point-blank header that was blocked on the line by Ferguson. At that stage, Legg had been involved in just about everything, taking all the dead-ball kicks and hurling his long throws into the Wolverhampton penalty area from anywhere inside their half. Legg, though, was not involved when County did take the lead. He was on his way over to take a corner when Emenalo decided to do the job for him and played it short to Turner. A square pass found Simpson and the youngster looked up before floating a perfect shot over Stowell and under the bar. That gave County a lead they fully deserved at the interval, but, as the second half wore on, Wolverhampton stepped up the pressure. Even so, Agana and Legg both might have given County a further goal before Ferguson and Blades combined to free Rankine. Simpson caught him from behind and Wolverhampton secured their point from the spot.

Up the Maggies note:
It was unfortunate that the new Main Stand's debut match had been selected for live broadcast on television, as the presence of the TV cameras obviously had an impact on the attendance. 13,438 had watched the previous season's fixture v Wolves, but only 8,569 turned up for this season's clash with County's Midlands rivals after it was switched to the Sunday afternoon. On entering the ground an hour before kick-off, the new stand looked magnificent, but it had become a rather depressing sight by the time the game began - for it was barely a third full. With the close-season focus on financing and building the new stand, Notts had done little to improve the squad to encourage results and bums on seats, the two new players on show today were Nigerian international Michael Emenalo and former Bradford City full back Colin Hoyle, neither of whom made an impact, managing a grand total of just 10 league appearances between them all season. The next two home fixtures were both lost in the space of 5 days - The latter, a defeat to Swindon Town on 3rd September, saw manager Mick Walker clearly rattled when BBC Radio Nottingham correspondent Colin Slater asked for his reaction to "a result like that" - "What do you mean, a result like that?" snapped Walker, Slater's pragmatic reply was "A home defeat to Swindon Town, which is very disappointing". Notts lost again the following week, and Walker was then sacked after a draw at Barnsley on Tuesday 13th September. Eleven days later, County slumped to rock bottom of the table, a position in which Notts were to end the season in May, by which time Pavis had sacked two further managers - Russell Slade and his replacement Howard Kendall.

The artist's impression of the Derek Pavis Stand, as unveiled in the Nottingham Evening Post in March 1994.

Notts County Season 1994/95
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