Daniels enjoys dream debut

Billy Daniels admitted he should not have even been on the pitch after he snatched a late goal in Notts County's 2-1 win over Crewe.

Liam Noble gave County the lead on the stroke of half-time from the penalty spot, only for Jamie Ness to drive home a leveller moments after the restart. However Daniels, who only joined from Coventry on Thursday, climbed off the bench to steal all three points with a terrific volley. The striker then revealed he was originally meant to miss the game altogether. "I had not been on the pitch long, but Blair [Adams] put in a great cross for me and I just managed to get a clean connection," Daniels said. "It's gone into the top corner I couldn't have dreamed for a better debut goal if I am honest. "I don't think I've ever hit a ball as clean as that in my career. I knew as soon as it left my foot that it was destined to go in. "The lads have said I've shanked it, but in all seriousness I'm just delighted to have broken my duck so early. "I wasn't actually supposed to be playing or even on the bench, but I had a meeting with the gaffer on Friday and he told me what the script was. "He just said to me when I went on that to try to make things happen which I did. "You want to make an instant impact when you are at a new club and hopefully I've done that." It was County's first win in eight league games, and while it ended Crewe's mini unbeaten run of four matches, Alex boss Steve Davis was adamant his side deserved something from the game. "We are very disappointed because we had been on a good run and I honestly felt as if we would come away with something," Davis said. "I always say to the players if we can't win the game, then let's not lose it. But that's what happened late on when they made it 2-1. "I thought we started really well and could have been 3-0 up in the first 15 minutes. We missed some sitters and you then think to yourself that you are going to pay the ultimate price. "We did and the lesson for us is that you have to put your chances away when you are on top. "Nicky Ajose missed a couple and if we had taken those chances we would have gone on to win the game quite comfortably. "We controlled most of the game until the last few minutes which we didn't see out well at all. We made bad decisions and it cost us."