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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Oliver King

Five things we learned from Notts County's 5-0 win over Dagenham & Redbridge

If Carlsberg did the perfect week, then the one Notts County fans have just experienced will have whet the appetite for many as they continued their unbeaten start to the National League season.

Three wins in seven days for Luke Williams' side have the Magpies chirping again and they saved their best performance until Saturday afternoon, smashing five goals past Dagenham & Redbridge and rekindling that clinical nature that was absent, but not costly, against Solihull Moors.

Macaulay Langstaff hit a first professional hat-trick, making it seven goals in nine games for the Notts number nine, with Cedwyn Scott and Adam Chicksen also adding to their respective tallies on what was a brilliant afternoon in east London.

READ MORE: Macaulay Langstaff talks injury scare and first hat-trick following Dagenham & Redbridge victory

Following the match, here are five things we learned.

Macaulay Langstaff scores goals

What more is there to say about this man? He just loves to score goals, doesn't he?

It was another brilliant performance from Langstaff and a deserved hat-trick ball after coming so close to achieving it with braces against Maidenhead, Chesterfield and Halifax Town.

His positional awareness and instinctive finishing is simply something to be admired. The 25 year-old is constantly on the move and that predatory capability was on show for all three of his goals.

The second was the most impressive, anticipating Scott's goal-bound effort would be spilled by Elliott Justham to have an easy tap-in while the Dagenham defence stood with their arms in the air.

One continually improving aspect of his game is his presence in build-up play. On several occasions, Langstaff would drop slightly deeper and look to receive the ball from either Matty Palmer or Jim O'Brien, and would interchange with his strike partner which would simply confuse the Daggers defence on who to mark.

It's hard to believe that his hat-trick on Saturday afternoon was only his first in professional football, but there is a feeling it will not be his last.

Super Jim O'Brien

Eyebrows were raised at Geraldo Bajrami's omission from the starting line-up to face Dagenham following his excellent midfield performance against Solihull on Monday afternoon.

Williams got that decision spot on, with O'Brien's experience in the middle of the pitch able to combat the youth and physicality in the Daggers midfield.

His overall performance is exactly what you would expect from him. Nothing flashy or over the top, just keeping the ball simple and allowing Notts to tick through midfield and into the front three.

The deliveries on another day would have landed him two or three assists too, planting a number of crosses right on to the heads of his team-mates, with Langstaff and Kyle Cameron guilty of spurning those opportunities.

Maintaining the momentum

Following two games in three days over the Bank Holiday, you could suggest the six day wait for the next fixture may have halted the momentum the Magpies gained from the quick turnaround, but the rest seemed to benefit Notts, with now a week to rest and recuperate for their fixture against Bromley at Meadow Lane next Saturday.

At Halifax they were clinical, and against Solihull Moors they showed grit and desire to obtain all three points. Both completely different performances, but were combined beautifully against Dagenham and Redbridge to produce a result that certainly did not flatter the Magpies.

It is clear that the players are now on board and tactically aware of the style of play Williams would like to enforce.

The tireless pressing from minute one forced Daryl McMahon's side to consistently play long towards Paul McCallum and Junior Morias, but the Notts back three were comfortable in dealing with that, limiting the hosts to just three efforts on target all afternoon, compared to the Magpies' nine.

In addition to that, the defence looked to play high, and it caught out the Daggers attack on a number of occasions, seeing them win four offside decisions, whilst Notts had zero offsides given against them.

Another clean sheet

Whilst scoring five goals is impressive, Sam Slocombe and the rest of the Notts defence will be pleased with keeping a second consecutive clean sheet.

The Notts' keeper eluded to a number of clean sheets he believed would give his side the best opportunity of gaining promotion earlier on in the season, and three in seven games is not a bad return at all.

One major aspect from last season that the Magpies needed to improve on was tightening up at the back and not conceding sloppy goals. Whilst that has not been completely eradicated in the early parts of this season, it is clear that there is much more defensive stability with the formation and personnel selected by Williams.

The defence has been rarely tested in their last three games, and that is credit to the manager and the players deployed in that system, whilst the wing-backs are providing a consistent attacking threat, further emulated with Adam Chicksen's second goal in as many matches, with Aaron Nemane unlucky not to join him on the scoresheet this afternoon.

Rodrigues transfer relief

After the transfer window finally slammed shut, many Notts fans breathed a huge sigh of relief as they managed to keep hold of talisman Ruben Rodrigues, despite rumoured interest from clubs in the EFL.

His performance once again oozed quality, consistently picking up pockets of space and producing moments of real class that frustrated the Dagenham defence and midfield.

And following the game, Williams expressed his happiness they were able to keep hold of the Portuguese midfielder, and explained the 25-year-old now has the platform at Notts to showcase his undeniable qualities.

"We knew that there was a chance that something might come in very late and we were very relieved when it didn't," explained Williams post-match.

"You can see from the performance today what he means to us, and I would like to think he is enjoying his football and so I don't have to worry now until January.

"Yeah, there was probably something worthy of him taking notice of it, but he understands he is in a great position and that he could get something that he could bring him a life-changing opportunity.

"Thankfully, he understands that if he is to make that a reality he needs to continue to play well on the pitch for us and we're in a great position with that player, to be motivated and want to play here, and he is in a great position because he has that platform to show everyone how good he is."

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