Notts County boss praises 'hero' goalkeeping coach in penalty shootout win against Chesterfield

The Spireites went toe-to-toe with the Magpies at Wembley and for good periods were the better side but suffered a cruel defeat on penalties after a 2-2 extra-time draw.

Williams felt his side deserved to be promoted because of the record-breaking season, but not necessarily because of their performance on the day.

He said: “I am not saying we deserved to win the game, because I thought Chesterfield were brilliant. They caused us a lot of problems. I don’t think there was a huge amount between the two teams. I don’t think they blew us away and were so unlucky. I felt they were very good. At times they were far better than us and at times we were far better than them. I am not talking about the game, I am talking about a long season.”

Williams also said that his team were ‘nervy’ in the opening stages and praised Paul Cook and his staff for their game-plan.

“We played against a very, very good team with real quality,” he continued.

“We faced a team with real good experience in the technical area and they set the team up incredibly well to exploit things that can be a problem for us.

“We hesitated whether to stay up the (defensive) line or whether to drop and we got disjointed.

“Sam (Slocoombe) made an error very early on with a goal-kick, just the occasion, the atmosphere. And so we had a bad feeling. When you make an error like that you have emotion.

“Then I felt like we got to grips of the game, we started to control the flow of the game.

“We got back level and then to go behind again was a terrible blow but these guys are so mentally tough.”

Town goalkeeper Ross Fitzsimons was caught out at his near post with a free-kick from John Bostock in the 87th minute to make it 1-1, which was something they had apparently spotted before the game.

“I think everyone needs to love Tom Weal, our goalkeeping coach. The fans need to love him as much as I do because he is so desperate to do well he goes beyond his duties.

“For John Bostock’s goal, that was down to Tom Weal. He assessed the goalkeeper’s positioning before the game and he has put in the mind of the players that he can leave a big, big gap.”

The match went to penalties and Williams brought on sub keeper Archie Mair in the 120th minute. And it paid off because he saved two of Chesterfield’s penalties.

He added: “Then Wealy gave us incredible insight into how to win a penalty shootout. He brought me the research done that he had done and then it was my down to me whether we going to do it or not. The guy should be a hero of the club.”

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