City Held To Notts County Draw

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City Held To Notts County Draw

We were forced to settle for a point in our Sky Bet League One opener on Saturday, following a late Notts County equaliser at Meadow Lane.

2026-08-15T14:40+01:00

by Sam Jones

Published

15 Aug, 2026

City Held To Notts County Draw

We were forced to settle for a point in our Sky Bet League One opener on Saturday, following a late Notts County equaliser at Meadow Lane.

Sam Jones

2026-08-15T14:40+01:00

City Held To Notts County Draw

We were forced to settle for a point in our Sky Bet League One opener on Saturday, following a late Notts County equaliser at Meadow Lane.

Sam Jones

2026-08-15T14:40+01:00

City Held To Notts County Draw

We were forced to settle for a point in our Sky Bet League One opener on Saturday, following a late Notts County equaliser at Meadow Lane.

Sam Jones

2026-08-15T14:40+01:00

City Held To Notts County Draw

We were forced to settle for a point in our Sky Bet League One opener on Saturday, following a late Notts County equaliser at Meadow Lane.

Sam Jones

2026-08-15T14:40+01:00

The Foxes looked on course for victory in Russell Martin’s first league game in charge until Conor Grant’s 81st-minute goal cancelled out Jayden Joseph’s first City strike and saw it finish honours even in Nottingham, in front of 2,123 travelling members of the Blue Army.

We’ll welcome Burton Albion to King Power Stadium next Saturday (3pm BST kick-off) for our first home fixture of the league campaign.

Early pressure

There was a debut in between the sticks for summer signing Alex McCarthy, returning from injury after missing out against Northampton Town in the Carabao Cup last week. Wes Burns, who emerged from the bench in that fixture, made his first Foxes start.

Meeting in the league for the first time since March 1994, the side newly promoted from League Two made a ferocious start. Cal Roberts, taking aim from range, only narrowly missed the target and Martin Paterson’s side continued to put the pressure on early doors.

Ollie Cooper almost gave the Magpies the lead when blocking McCarthy’s clearance, only for it to cannon off the bar and back into the ‘keeper’s hands.

Gaining some control

Once we’d seen out the hosts’ initial momentum, our first opportunity to test James Belshaw in the County goal came from a Will Alves cross, nodded down by Burns into Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s path, though the ‘keeper was equal to the low strike.

Another chance fell the Jamaica international’s way, this time a darting Alves run and cross provided the opening, but the forward couldn’t keep his acrobatic effort the right side of the crossbar.

Burns, Liam Cullen and Luke Thomas were soon all involved in a free-flowing Foxes move which ended with Braybrooke cutting onto his right and attempting to bend the ball in at the far post, inches away from finding his intended target.

Notts County remained a threat on the counter attack, however, launching a quick break through Nick Tsaroulla, who blazed over after moving himself into a shooting position. James Gibbons headed wide at the back post late in the half and neither team was able to find a route to goal in the opening 45 minutes.

End-to-end

Both sides might have made the breakthrough shortly after the interval. Tsaroulla was forced to clear De Cordova-Reid’s chip off the goal line after being played in by Burns, following tidy play by Braybrooke to create the opening from a Notts County corner.

De Cordova-Reid was in the action at the other end, too, coming deep for a pass which was intercepted, and subsequently sent over the bar, by Lucas Ness, who quickly made amends by blocking Joseph’s shot.

McCarthy had work to do as well, saving from Roberts after a defensive mix up, which came before Alves’ long range curler briefly had Belshaw scrambling.

The goals

Braybrooke, a standout player all afternoon, was the provider for fellow Academy graduate Joseph’s superb strike which arrowed into the bottom corner after a 40-plus-pass move from the visiting Foxes.

Tommy Watson, having been introduced for the closing stages, glanced a header wide from Thomas’ corner as we looked to double our advantage, but it would prove costly not to take such opportunities.

With just under 10 minutes of normal time remaining, substitute Grant remained calm to turn the ball home from close range after Emile Acquah’s header came back off the post and we were all square.

Harry Howell and Admir Bristrić both emerged for their Foxes debuts late on, but other than a half-chance for Watson, twisting and turning from the left, there was little we could muster against a resolute County outfit in the final minutes.

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