Safe Hands !
It was not a vintage year for Notts County in the cups but the season of 2005-6 proved pretty good for goalkeepers with a Pie pedigree.Here's why....
County keepers in the cups
Season 2005 - 2006
Steve Mildenhall
(Grimsby Town)

Steve left Notts at the beginning of the previous season and signed up with Grimsby who, after a long slide through the divisions, were beginning to pick up again. During the 2005-6 campaign they were consistantly in the fight for promotion and the squad, that boasted no less than four ex Pies, also had a good run in the Carling Cup. Their night of glory was 20 September 2005 when an 88th minute goal saw off Spurs in a home fixture.Best moment of the game - Steve's 7th minute scramble to deny Robbie Keane.They eventually went out, by a creditable 1-0, to Newcastle, a match which put the ex-Notts keeper up against Alan Shearer !
Saul Deeney
(Burton Albion)

There wasn't a whole lot of sympathy for Saul Deeney when, having trialled for many higher-placed league clubs, he eventually ended up at non-league Burton Albion after he left Notts under a cloud at the end of the 2004-5 season. Even so,there were certainly a few Pies routing for him when the Nigel Clough-run outfit went on an unlikely FA Cup run and ended up in the draw with the big fish of the third round. And who did they land, but the biggest of  them all - a home tie with Man Utd. That match, which also featured our own homegrown Shaun Harrad, earned the young goalkeeper a backpage headline of a national daily when his last minute foot-out denied the Premiership stars. The game (on the 8th January 2006) finished 0-0. Deeney was the toast of his local area and of all the neturals in the run-up to the Old Trafford reply although, unsuprisingly, similar contract wrangles emerged to those that cost him his league job and the headstrong youngster was obliged to sign up for the rest of the season to guarantee his place on the big day. Similarly without shock, was the result of the game with the Premiership side winning comfortably 5-0 and the old Notts lad being taught something of a lesson about life at the top.
Mike Pollitt
(Wigan Athletic)

Mike was only in his early twenties when he served, for three years as Notts second-choice keeper.At the end of that time - as the side pushed for promotion, he was loaned out to a couple of clubs and finally ended up at Rotherham, from where he made his biggest move to Premiership newcomers Wigan, at the commencement of the 2005-6 season.Tipped for an immediate Football League return, they suprised everyone and even had an excellent Carling Cup campaign whilst maintaining a top half league position.The true sign of their achievements came in the second leg of the semi-final of that competition when, nursing a slender 1-0 advantage, they defended stoutly and forced the Gunners into extra time before a late away goal gave them the advantage and took them to a first ever major cup final despite losing 2-1. The greatest moment for the former Pie had come much earlier on in the game when he crucially saved a penalty from Reyes.

Pollitt V Arsenal
Deeney V Man Utd
Mildenhall V Spurs
In the dark days before shirts had names.... this little baby cropped up on Ebay with a '13' on the back. A very unusual number to have on a replica you might think and you'd be right. You can just make out, sewn onto the sleeves, the old material epaulettes that mark it out as almost-certainly matchworn, or at least benchworn because this is the substitute goalie kit. At that time, it would have belonged to our mate...Mike Pollitt, then just starting out along the long road that would lead to a cup final appearance with Wigan in 2006.
It was a measure of how unpopular the talented goalie had become that, notwithstanding he had won the spot of regular first team keeper in the 2004-5 season, when this, his last ever match shirt, came up for sale, it was one of the last to go.
The young Irish keeper signs an FA Cup matchball at Meadow Lane. Another cup was to bring the lad to national attention for fifteen minutes..
Steve gave this shirt (still muddy from wear) to some Swindon fans when he went back with Notts to play a league game there.
However many fine saves Mildenhall made for the Pies, fans were always quick to remind the goalie of his greatest moment - a goal scored in the League Cup against Mansfield from a very long free-kick. Thereafter, his set pieces were always accompanied by a roar from the fans of 'shooot'.