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Notts County draw a blank

Image: Ronan Murray: Had chances to score

Notts County continued their pre-season preparations with a goalless draw at Nuneaton.

Wolves winger Zeli Ismail started for the Magpies ahead of his proposed loan move to Meadow Lane and the majority of Shaun Derry's starting XI played for 70 minutes. Clear chances were few and far between at both ends, although Notts looked more of a threat going forward when Alan Smith moved into attack to partner Ronan Murray as part of a 4-4-2 formation. Murray stung the palms of the home goalkeeper with a shot from outside the area while Smith was unfortunate not to win a penalty when he appeared to be prevented from capitalising on a defensive error by a shirt pull. However, the referee waved play on. At the other end, Fabian Spiess was eager to make a good impression following Bartosz Bialkowski's move to Ipswich and the young German made two good saves to deny the non-league side. Winger Adam Dawson and Jeremy Balmy, both trialists introduced at half-time, got plenty of crosses into the Nuneaton box but Notts were unable to take advantage of one of them. The closest they came was when midfielder Elliott Whitehouse, another trialist, saw his downward header brilliantly saved by Reice Charles-Cooke. Only a superb last-ditch challenge from youth-team left-back Kyle Symons prevented Nuneaton from winning the game late on.

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