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Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 07:12
And he is probably right.
The Magpies are quickly, and rightly, earning a reputation this season for being a side totally transformed from the last campaign; one that plays attractive attacking football, one that is expansive through wingers Matt Hamshaw and Myles Weston and, ultimately, one that is playing with reinvigorated self-belief.
Their performance last night in front of a bumper crowd of 6,012 and an even greater audience watching on Sky TV will have only enhanced that further.
Weston, particularly, will have bolstered his own burgeoning status with another outstanding display of pace and purpose on the left wing. Gavin Strachan and Delroy Facey too, were equally eye-catching.
For all of that, Notts are also developing a reputation for drawing – a hell of a lot.
Their nine-game unbeaten run is testament to them being a hard team to beat but, with just two wins against Aldershot and Port Vale in that stylish sequence, they are also finding it hard to beat teams.
And while that remains the case they will struggle to impose themselves much higher than mid-table, let alone the play-offs.
In fairness, Notts deserved to beat Darlington, Shrewsbury and Bournemouth in their three draws on home soil before last night. That they deserved to but didn't, however, will be of little consolation to McParland and his players.
It was the same story against Brentford last night. The Magpies, quite simply, merited a third successive victory. But at the end it was yet more frustration; another point when it should have been three.
Once again, they seized command of a game with exuberant endeavour and created chances to break the deadlock but didn't take them.
Matt Hamshaw was memorably denied by Ben Hamer on the half-hour mark after the ball broke to him just inside the penalty area and he rifled a powerful effort that was destined for the top corner. At full-stretch to his right, it was an incredible save from the visitors' keeper.
Hamer also thwarted the luckless Facey, acrobatically parrying his curling shot from the edge of the box before the Bees took the lead.
The Notts' back-line was badly caught out for Glenn Poole's opener on 36 minutes, with captain Mike Edwards failing to push up with his team-mates after the ball had been cleared.
It allowed Charlie MacDonald to stay onside on the right, in behind Jamie Clapham and Michael Johnson, and he was clear to charge forward and cut the ball back across the penalty area to the unmarked Poole to fire past the exposed Russell Hoult from 15 yards.
So many times this season the Magpies have conceded poor goals. And while MacDonald's cross was measured and Poole's finish emphatic, the Bees' goal was born from a lapse in concentration at a critical moment.
It means they have now kept only one clean sheet in the league this season in ten games.
For all of the club's difficulties during the last campaign, they ended it with the sixth best defensive record in the basement division.
With the likes of Edwards, Johnson, Clapham and Adam Tann in the back-four the experience and quality is obvious. But they certainly need to be more solid. In tight games like last night it would make a huge difference.
Their response to falling behind was typically stirring and Clapham almost levelled the game with a wonder strike just six minutes into the second half but agonisingly struck the post with a long-range effort.
Edwards then directed a close-range header straight at Hamer from Hamshaw's right-wing cross.
For all of that, however, they needed a controversial penalty to draw level just after the hour mark when Adam Tann smashed the ball against Poole's left arm from point-blank range.
For McParland it was a certain spot-kick. For Bees' boss Andy Scott it was a terrible decision by referee Michael Oliver.
Either way, Jamie Forrester duly fired home with characteristic composure in front of the packed Kop, burying it in the bottom left corner and sending Hamer the wrong way for his fourth goal of the season.
Both sides had a chance to clinch victory in the closing stages, with Hamshaw forcing Hamer into a good save low down to his left and Poole dragging an effort wide of the far post on 89 minutes.
A game they should have won so nearly ended in defeat for the Magpies, which would have been a huge travesty.
How they will be hoping to extend their unbeaten run against Macclesfield at Meadow Lane on Saturday – but with a win.
Mike Edwards almost scores
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