Notts County Germany Tour Final Game Disappointment

We were denied victory in the final game of our Germany tour by a late Stuttgarter Kickers goal.

The hosts were on the correct side of a debatable offside decision on their way to cancelling out Rod McDonald’s first-half opener.

We assumed early control of possession but, 12 minutes after our trialist goalkeeper had made a comfortable early save to deny Per Locki, he made a big double-stop after a ball played through the middle set Lukas Kiefer away.

A lovely through ball of our own created our first real chance of the game on 26 minutes, McDonald threading our trialist forward into the area before seeing the shot diverted into the side-netting by a sliding defender.

And McDonald was involved again in an attacking sense shortly before the interval, giving us the lead with an instinctive finish after Macari’s initial shot had been blocked.

Three pre-planned substitutions saw Harry Griffiths, Sonny Aljofree and Ryley Reynolds replace our trialist goalkeeper, Lucas Ness and Kellan Gordon at the interval.

Will Jarvis continued in a number 10 role and nearly doubled our lead on 55 minutes when he cut into the area from the left before whistling a shot just wide of the far post.

Jodi Jones replaced our trialist forward shortly after the hour and sent a free-kick into the side-netting after Kouhyar had been felled on the edge of the area.

We continued to dominate and came within inches of making it 2-0 with 20 minutes to play when Kouhyar did brilliantly to beat a couple of players out wide before seeing his well-struck shot crash off the upright.

A raft of further substitutions followed, including the introductions of Tom Iorpenda, Conor Grant and Matt Dennis – and the first two combined to create a half-chance for Dennis six-yards out, but he couldn’t keep his header down.

If there was to be another goal it looked certain that we’d be the scorers – but we found ourselves level on 81 minutes when our hosts sprung the offside trap on the counter and eventually scored through Lirjon Abdullahu.

As full-time neared, the sharp-looking Jones sent a weak effort straight at the Kickers keeper after neat footwork on the edge of the area – and he was denied again in stoppage time as he ghosted away from a defender before seeing his well-struck shot saved.

STARTING XI: Trialist (Griffiths 46′); Macari, McDonald, Ness (Aljofree 46′); Hinchy, Edwards; Kouhyar, Gordon (Reynolds 46′); Jarvis, Traore; Trialist (Jones 62′)

FINAL 15: Griffiths; Bedeau, Platt, Aljofree; Palmer, Trialist; Grant, Reynolds; Iorpenda, Jones; Dennis

SUBS: Robinson, Muir