"If I smell somebody feeling sorry for themselves, there will be a problem and you won't play," were the words of Luke Williams to his Notts County players following his side's 1-1 draw away to Barnet.
The Magpies were forced to rue several missed opportunities in a dominant first-half display, with Macaulay Langstaff taking his total to 37 goals for the campaign, only for Idris Kanu to equalise in first-half injury time to further boost their own promotion push.
With the point, Notts find themselves three points adrift of leaders Wrexham following their 2-1 win away to Bromley this afternoon, with this weekend's results feeling as though it will have huge significance in the title race.
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The equaliser came on the cusp of the referee's whistle in first-half injury time, Jordan Cropper, known for his long throw-ins from his time with Grimsby last season, catapulted a ball into the area which Kanu was able to head off the bar to see Dean Brennan's side grab a goal against the run of play.
"I am very disappointed," Williams said on how his side conceded the goal. "Because it was flat like a rocket and someone connects with it perfectly well, it is bouncing around in there and in the end, there is no pace on the ball - it's very disappointing."
It's another fixture that despite getting a point against one of the sides chasing National League promotion, feels almost like a defeat in the manner proceedings played out in North London.
While the Notts chief was keen to reiterate that the title race is now over, he was on hand to explain to fans that his side will not drop their levels in the final seven games of the season.
"I don't want anyone to worry that we don't want to play football anymore, we want to play like the way we play and it is going to be unacceptable to do anything else - I am going to be making sure of that.
"The group knows they are going to make a great performance in the next game I do not doubt that, but the title race is unrealistic.
"They won't slip up and even if we go there and win which is a monumental task, we still can't close the gap enough to be realistic so we have to focus on making sure we protect our mentality and don't feel sorry for ourselves.
With seven games of the season remaining, Notts realistically need to emerge victorious in all of those games to stand a chance of ending their four-year stay in the fifth tier automatically - with the Notts boss explaining that side understands the mentality needed for the final run-in of this remarkable season.
"It's the title race for everyone, but for us, inside the camp, it is about us and to perform well," Williams explained.
"Nothing needs to change too much, but it's the first thing I said to the players in the changing room that if I smell somebody feeling sorry for themselves, there will be a problem and you won't play.
"You need to be ready to go in and play and concentrate on playing very well and on the day something can happen - we have had this a couple of times where we have played brilliantly but not got the result we deserved.
"If we don't concentrate on that, we are playing for something that can be affected by unforeseen circumstances or affected by another team being unbelievably good and feeling sorry for yourselves, but that is no good."
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