The hosts began brightly, with some excellent play from John Sheridan who expertly fed the wings. Low, currently hitting his best form for the Latics and Eyres, worked wonders and the Latics first goal came through some crafty work by the former Preston man. Having beaten his chaperone to the ball, Eyres cleverly cut the ball past his marker forcing the Notts County defender to stick out a leg and chop him down. It was late and allowed a dangerous free-kick from the left. Eyres swung this to the back post, finding Baudet unmarked. His downward header tested Garden, but he could only block the shot allowing Killen to control and volley into the roof of the net. 1-0.
The game continued to be frantic and within the first 25 minutes, the middle 3rd of the pitch rarely saw any play as it was end-to-end stuff. On 14, the Latics almost doubled their lead as Wijnhard nipped onto the ball and passed a stumbling visiting defender. The Latics were two on one, but Wijnhard took the wrong option of unselfishly passing to Killen. He hadn't made inroads into the box yet and in the end had defenders forcing him into an early effort - one which Garden claimed with ease.
Two minutes later, it was the Magpies who were celebrating. Caskey tested Miskelly with a low drive and won the visitors a corner. The defence failed to clear this properly, allowing Liburd to cross back in and Stallard to sidefoot home. 1-1.
Play then returned to the Latics final third of the pitch as the hosts won a free-kick on 21. John Sheridan appeared to line up an effort but ran over the ball allowing Eyres to follow up behind and shoot for the opposite corner. The effort was inch perfect but somehow, Garden had corrected himself and just managed to get his fingers on the ball.
On 28, it looked as though the Latics were back in the lead as County defender Ireland almost headed into his own net under pressure from Killen. The resulting corner flashed straight through the 6 yard box, missing everyone and that vital touch. Five minutes later, Latics pressure seemed to be telling and Garden cracked under it. His mistake left Josh Low and Clyde Wijnhard free, but the right winger's ball was slightly behind Wijnhard meaning the former Huddersfield man couldn't wrap his foot around it. Instead the shot was sent spinning high and wide.
As the Latics looked to be taking control, Notts County began to up the tempo and with half-time looming, the game started to even out. Indeed, on 43, arguably the save of the game came from Miskelly as Stallard's glancing header from a corner looked certain to go in, from point blank range. Fortunately, Miskelly was there to push the ball over the bar. And it seemed almost instantaneously that the ball then found its way downfield and into the back of the visitors net.
Wijnhard worked the ball out to Low. His cross was flicked on by John Sheridan and back to Wijnhard on the edge of the box, who had spotted Tony Carss' diagonal run. A perfectly weighted ball allowed Carss (pictured) to do just enough to hold off the defender and shoot for the far corner. Despite the effort being scuffed, Garden couldn't make it across and the ball bounced home. It was a classic, clever, well worked goal in which every man involved played a part for each other. 2-1.
The Latics came out in the 2nd half and continued to be in control. However, neither side were creating chances now. On the hour mark, Berehall was swapped with Darren Sheridan - a move which saw Baudet move from an ineffective position in midfield to his favoured centre-back spot. And this worked for the Latics.
Within seconds of the change, the ball was sprayed out to the right and Low set off on another one of his runs. This time though, he looked up, picked out Wijnhard's superb run and flighted an awesome cross to the far post. The Latics striker met the ball with precision and looked certain to score, but his volley crashed against the post. Thereafter, County began to creep back into the game without threatening, until somehow they conjured up an equaliser from no-where. Cas broke free in the area and flighted a lofted ball to the back post to meet substitute Heffernan. With just Miskelly to beat, the scorer from Saturday at Meadow Lane nodded the ball down and into the back of the net. 2-2.
For a few minutes after the goal the pace became frantic and turned into the type of game in which either side could leak another goal - one which may prove vital. The ball ran from end to end and the Latics nearly went back into the lead on 78 as the ball broke for Eyres. His mis-hit shot flew into the box, Killen stuck out a leg and somehow the ball became blocked on the line. A scramble ensued until someone in a Latics shirt amongst the mayhem thrashed the ball over the bar. However, the vital goal wasn't far away.
With 9 minutes to go, John Sheridan's free-kick from just outside the box (one which had been moved forward due to dissent from a County player) was rolled into the box. Low hit the ball across goal and Hall blasted an effort at Garden. Unable to smother the ball, Wijnhard was on hand to tap home the simplest of goals. 3-2.
As it looked like the Latics had finally done enough, the lead was almost undone once again as Miskelly made an almost costly gaff with just minutes to go. The youngster ran out from his goal to claim a cross, collided into Baudet and left his goal at mercy for Danny Allsop to aim at. Somehow the ex-Man City man lashed his effort across the goalmouth and past the far post. It was to be a costly miss which sent the visitors packing and out of the Worthington Cup 2002/3.
For the home side, this performance was one of commitment, working for each other and all about the sides ability to create goals. As on Saturday, that seemed to be done with ease, but to be fair it was at the cost of being more open at the back and a better side may probably have done more damage.
The balance is very fine - either you play the type of stuff we did in our first 6 games whereby you are cautious and tentative in approach, but claim 4 clean sheets in a row and sneak the odd goal here and there. Or, you play good attacking, creative football and make sure you do it better than your opponents, so that if you do concede (as we have) you outscore your opponents. That took the Latics to the top of the table this time last year - but not being able to do the former (i.e. defend) was the undoing. Surely the key to success is an ability of flexibility between those two systems. Master that and you master promotion. We're proving adaptable to both systems, so maybe we are on our way. The next two home games vs Mansfield & Bristol City should go a long way to proving if we are.