Notts County manager Stuart Maynard has called for officials to give his players more protection as his injury list begins to mount, as reported by Notts TV.
County has 15 games left in the race for promotion.
Maynard Bemoans Lack Of Protection
The County boss has been faced with a growing number of players in the treatment room with Jacob Bedeau joining Jodi Jones and David McGoldrick out injured. Bedeau has returned to training but Maynard is expected to be unable to call on any of the three for Saturday’s visit of Tranmere Rovers.
Speaking before facing Nigel Adkins’ side, Maynard again turned his focus to referees and the lack of protection afforded to his players.
“I think we’ve been very unfortunate, it’s been one of those seasons where we have had a lot of impact injuries that have hindered us.”
“I feel that we’ve been kicked loads I don’t think we’ve been protected by the refs enough, look at Jodi who has been back a couple of games and you look at how many times he’s been kicked off the ball.”
Boss Defends Training Methods
Maynard has refused to blame his side’s training methods and the intensity at which they play for the injuries, instead claiming his players are being endangered by challenges that aren’t always focused on winning the ball.
“I look at it and if we were getting injuries in training and it was down to training being too intense I would say then we would have to look at it.”
“I’m not saying you want everyone booked for every challenge but there has to be an attempt to go for the ball, if there’s no attempt to go for the ball then you’re endangering the player.”
Challenging Afternoon Ahead
Having been fouled 16 times by Colchester United in their last outing, the Magpies can expect a tough afternoon against Tranmere as the Super White Army average 12 fouls per game and have picked up 64 yellow cards from their 31 games.
Writer’s View
These sorts of comments are always very interesting and could have a positive impact on his side’s next outing by alerting referees to what Maynard believes is happening.
Alternatively, County’s rivals could well see this as Maynard looking for excuses in the run-in and the opposition will know how to rattle the Magpies.
