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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Oliver King

Luke Williams explains Archie Mair decision as Notts County character hailed after historic Wembley triumph

Notts County boss Luke Williams has insisted that his side have the quality to compete in the Football League after confirming their promotion with a penalty shootout victory over Chesterfield at Wembley.

The Magpies twice fell behind thanks to goals from Andrew Dallas and Armando Dobra - John Bostock equalising in normal time before Ruben Rodrigues sent the game to penalties.

In a huge roll of the dice, the Notts head coach opted to sub goalkeeper Sam Slocombe before the penalty shootout, the 34-year-old having never saved a spot-kick since arriving at Meadow Lane.

READ MORE: Incredible scenes as Notts back in EFL after dramatic Wembley victory

READ MORE: Notts County player ratings as Magpies return to Football League

And Norwich City loanee Archie Mair, who saved a penalty against Altrincham back in March, proved to be the Notts hero as he denied Darren Oldaker and Jeff King from the spot before Cedwyn Scott fired home to send the Magpies back to the Football League.

Explaining his decision, Williams said: "It's a really tough one to make.

"You have to remove a guy that has given everything on the pitch in a big occasion, but they are the calls that you have to make and Archie is an extremely good penalty stopper - he is a good goalkeeper full stop by the way.

"I think he has the edge on Sam Slocombe on penalty stops, and he did incredible."

The drama at Wembley is what Notts fans have come to expect this season, with the Spireites taking advantage of a high County line on a number of occasions but failing to take full advantage of those opportunities

But, as seen against Boreham Wood in the play-off semi-finals last week, this team does not know when they're beaten, finding that little bit extra to ensure the season finished with the perfect ending.

For all of the intricate football often played by Notts this season, Williams believes the performance at Wembley is further proof that they can compete in League Two.

"We all accept that if you want to be a successful team you have to have many sides to your character, and we have had plenty of games where we have played a really controlled and tactical game of football and then we put the game to bed.

"But that is not enough on its own, and we are able to show resilience and dig in and be tough when periods of the game occur and we have to put our bodies on the line.

"Today we showed pretty much pretty much everything to show that we can be successful at this level."

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