14 May 2023 , 12:05
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Notts County hero Archie Mair shared an X-rated message his mum sent - moments after the goalkeeper came on for the penalty shootout in the National League play-off final.
The 20-year-old was substituted on for Sam Slocombe in the 120th minute following a dramatic 2-2 draw between Chesterfield and Notts at Wembley. He was brought on by Luke Williams to become the match-winner - and he did just that - saving two penalties as the Magpies secured their place in League Two.
Mair superbly saved Darren Oldaker's spot-kick, before stopping Jeff King's effort to hand John Bostock the chance to win the game for Notts. The ex-Barcelona midfielder missed from 12-yards, but it didn't matter as Cedwyn Scott netted the Magpies' fifth penalty to secure a 4-3 win.
After the game, Mair revealed that his mum was fairly anxious about his son when he came on for the penalty shootout. In a message on Twitter, Mair posted a screenshot that showed his mum sent two separate messages when he came on. The first said: "He's on for pens !!!". This was followed by: "F***".
Notts boss Williams explained why he made the change to put Mair in the limelight for the shootout - and hailed the Norwich loanee in the process. He said: "It's a really tough one to make.
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"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."
Notts were the clear favourites heading into the game at Wembley but the Magpies endured a disastrous start when Andrew Dallas gave Chesterfield the lead. That looked like it was going to be the winning goal - up until Bostock struck a 88th minute free-kick into the bottom corner to send the Magpies faithful into delirium.
Archie Mair celebrates after Notts County's play-off success (Getty Images)However, the Spireites responded and re-took the lead in extra-time through Armando Dobra. Once again, Notts fought back and levelled as Ruben Rodrigues fired home to send the game to penalties. Following their shootout win, Notts will now join Wrexham in the Football League next season.
Williams added: "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."