Notts return to home soil once again this weekend for the visit of Woking. Ian Burchnall will certainly be needing to play all his cards right to come out victorious in this one.

Notts fell to their first defeat of the season last weekend away at Altrincham. This result may add a little more pressure to come out of this weekend’s clash with all three points, especially considering the points dropped midweek by Chesterfield and Grimsby Town. Ian Burchnall was without three main centre halves Alex Lacey, Kyle Cameron and Connell Rawlinson previously but has confirmed all three have completed some form of training this week, despite admitting the only one realistically in contention is Alex Lacey. The matchwinner in last league win against Maidenhead picked up a minor knock prior to the game at Altrincham, which saw him absent from the matchday squad. However, a return to the side this weekend will sure put smiles back amongst the faces of the Notts faithful, considering the attacking threat possessed by the visitors. Following his fifth yellow card already this season, wide-man Cal Roberts is suspended for the Magpies this weekend, which is another major blow of the hosts as the so called ‘Geordie Messi’ had begun re-establishing some blistering form.

As for the visitors, impressive is an understatement when coming to describe their triumph over big spenders Chesterfield. Tahvon Campbell at the double once again for the cardinals, increasing his tally to six goals thus far this season. Amongst the scoresheet was striker Inih Effiong, loanee for the Magpies last season, netting just the once before his loan spell was cut short. Already this season have Woking proven that they’re a match for anybody in this division. Despite losing three of their six matches played, it is worth mentioning each lose was by a deficit of one goal. As well as this, the cards demolished Torquay United 0-4 away from home, netting twice in the first four minutes, and as previously mentioned cruised 3-1 winners against promotion chasing Chesterfield. When asked about the visitors, Ian Burchnall was massively complimentary of club top goal scorer Tahvon Campbell stating that the forward “is having a great season” following onto saying he’s an attacker “who is mobile and who is dangerous.” He then followed up on those statements by praising Alan Dowse’s full team saying: “They work unbelievably hard, they work unbelievably hard. Every time they win the ball, they’re full on into attacks and they press, and they hunt. It’s a team that’s got a good feeling within the and certainly will have after their midweek game against Chesterfield… we will have to cope with a lot of intensity from them. They are showing they’re a well drilled team and it will be a tough task.”

So, what exactly can you expect to transpire this weekend at Meadow Lane?

From a Notts prospective, you could argue this will be the toughest task yet this season. This is more than complimentary to the visitors as the magpies have already travelled away from home to face Wrexham this season and faced a home visit from last season’s play-off finalists Torquay United. As for a Woking prospective, it’d come as no surprise if they also considered this weekend’s fixture as their toughest game yet. Proving already they are no push over for any team, it’s a certainty that they’re not coming to Meadow Lane to defend the point from minute one to ninety.  Although it will not be a game of many goals, the contest is bound to be a guaranteed enjoyment for all supporters within the famous old stadium this weekend.

My personal prediction? Well, considering it is felt within myself that after the midweek results, this game is seen as a must win, I am going to go with the hosts coming away as 2-1 winners. I believe that seeing the results elsewhere in the week will be used as a motivational factor for Ian Burchnall’s side which I ultimately see as being the difference in this game. However, considering one result in the week was via a Woking success, the magpies certainly cannot show up expecting to roll the visitors over as if this is the case, they’re in for a very unpleasant surprise.

Current form:

• Notts County: WDWWL
• Woking: LWLLW

Probable line-ups:

• Notts County: Patterson, Taylor, Chicksen, Brennan, Brindley, Kelly-Evans, Palmer, Francis, Roberts, Wootton, Rodrigues.
• Woking: Ross, Lofthouse, McNerney, Diarra, Casey, Champion, Ince, Nwabuokei, Kretzschmar, Oakley, Campbell.  

Venue & time:

• Meadow Lane, 3pm Saturday 2nd October 2021.

*Article provided by K-Ci Rennicks (Notts County Correspondent).

*Main image @KRennicks40 a view from Meadow Lane as Notts hope to return to winning ways this weekend.