Martin Paterson feels Notts County fell into traps in loss to Accrington

Notts County manager Martin Paterson admitted his players had fallen into all the traps Accrington laid for them as they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Meadow Lane.

Visiting captain Shaun Whalley netted the only goal of a scrappy contest in the 72nd minute, latching on to Donald Love’s pass and outmuscling his marker before prodding an angled finish beyond Kelle Roos.

Matthew Dennis and Tom Iorpenda both missed chances for the hosts either side of the interval, with the latter also being booked for simulation during the closing stages as the hosts saw several penalty appeals waved away.

Despite being frustrated by the officiating and aspects of Stanley’s approach, Paterson also acknowledged County “had not done enough” to seize control.

He said: “We probably had the better of the chances. The way they play, though, it’s difficult to open them up and get them out because they’re so dogged.

“I thought they came with a set way of playing which again, isn’t my way, but that’s not our concern. We have to look at ourselves and what we did to break that. We didn’t do enough and the intensity wasn’t there, which was disappointing.

“We didn’t play with the intent and speed we usually do. The game had no rhythm and it was all free-kicks and throw-ins or goal kicks. That’s what they wanted.

“Still, we have to be honest and we didn’t do what we had to do.

“It wasn’t through lack of effort. We have been asking lots of players to play lots of games.

“But I’m not going to shy away from anything. We should have done more to change the way that match went.”

Seventh-placed County are four points behind Walsall in third ahead of their weekend clash against Gillingham.

They had entered the fixture on the back of a morale-boosting draw at fellow high-flyers MK Dons and John Doolan, Stanley’s jubilant manager, revealed County’s performance in Buckinghamshire had influenced his team’s strategy in Nottinghamshire.

Doolan said: “We had a game plan and that plan worked perfectly. We watched the video of County’s game – they are a massive club by the way – over and over again before coming here and really picked the bones out of it.

“In order for it to work, everyone had to be on board with it. Everyone had to buy into it, because you don’t come to a place like this, against the players County have got, and get a result if everyone isn’t doing what they have to do.

“We told the lads beforehand that it’s only 10 outfield players versus 10 outfield players. The challenge was ‘could we stay compact and then hurt them when we got the chance?’. When we won the ball, we got into the right areas and we made that really big chance count.”

Doolan added: “Everyone understood their roles and responsibilities. We gave the lads all the information they needed on County and they took all of that on board and used it excellently.”