Football – England – FA Cup 1st Round
Sunday 9th November 2014 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Notts County have a chance to redeem themselves in a home cup-tie with Accrington Stanley this afternoon following their surprise 1-2 defeat to Walsall last weekend in League One.
The Magpies suffered their first defeat in eleven matches in all competitions last Saturday with that loss, but recent wins against Crawley Town and Barnsley should give them confidence going into today’s cup clash, along with their goalscoring record at Meadow Lane where they’ve failed to score just twice in their nine matches on home turf this season.
Notts County midfielders Ismail (4 goals) and Thompson (5 goals) lead the way in the goalscoring stakes while striker Harrad is also worth considering for an anytime goalscorer option.
Visitors Accrington Stanley continued their revival under manager John Coleman with a 2-1 home win over local rivals Morecambe last Friday in League Two, and after another poor start to the campaign, Stanley now sit in a more respectable mid-table position.
Accrington have won two of their last three with an earlier win over bottom club Hartlepool United along with a 1-1 draw away at Newport County, while their away form has produced mixed results in recent weeks.
Wins against Northampton Town and Mansfield Town along with the draw at Newport have been good results but they’ve also suffered defeats at Oxford United and Stevenage recently too. On the plus side though, Accrington have scored in 8 of their 9 away matches overall so far and with goalscoring midfielders such as Gray, Joyce and Maguire along with McCartan up front, Stanley should find the net here as well today.
I think this will be an open contest between two good footballing sides so we should see both teams hit the net here today in what could perhaps be a 2-1 win for the hosts.
Pick: Both teams to score – Yes @ 1.80 bet365
