'I don't understand' - Notts County boss Ian Burchall makes admission after Dover Athletic win

Notts County head coach Ian Burchnall praised his players for ‘giving everything’ in recording a 1-0 win over Dover Athletic at Meadow Lane as a run of three games in six days came to an end with the club firmly entrenched in the National League play-off places.

However, there was frustration at times among the home fans in a crowd of over 6,000 that the Magpies were not able to demolish a side they beat 3-0 away last week and are already relegated.

Examination of footage after the game revealed that the Kyle Wootton effort Notts had ruled out for offside in the 72nd minute should have stood, and that would have given them a two-goal cushion and may have forced Dover to come out of their shell earlier and open the door for further Notts goals.

Instead the visitors continued to defend in depth, and Burchnall admitted he was disappointed that some fans vented their discontent on his team, who dominated possession throughout but couldn’t add to Ruben Rodrigues’ first-half goal, after the win left them just one point away from securing a play-off place and in control of fifth position, which would give them a home quarter-final in the play-offs.

“I think people can underestimate how hard it is, regardless of what team you are playing against, when they put 11 men so low. It’s a challenge to open that up, it’s not easy, you have to be really patient. We opened them up plenty of times, had over 20 shots, plus corners, and we didn't give away any chances, other than one set piece near the end.

“This is the part of the season where we are under pressure every game and it’s not easy to maintain total control for 90 minutes, and I thought we did that today. We did break them down, we had a few one-on-ones, their keeper has