OPPOSITION FOCUS: THE MAGPIES
Saturday's visitors to Meadowbank arrive as one of only two side's unbeaten in the National League Premier so far this season, winning 5 and drawing 3 of the opening 8 games contested so far, and sitting 3rd in the league table.
Luke Williams side will be coming into the game especially confident having won the last 4 matches on the spin, the recent run including a 1-0 home win over fellow promotion favourites Solihull Moors and a 0-5 away demolition of Dagenham & Redbridge, prior to defeating Aldershot Town 2-0 at home in their last game played this past Tuesday night. The draw which proceeded the winning streak was a 2-2 result at home to the other side not defeated so far this term, league leaders Chesterfield, where Williams side had gone 2-0 down within the first hour before quickly restoring parity.
The acquisition of Gateshead strike duo Macauley Langstaff and Cedwyn Scott in the summer has had an immediate impact for The Magpies in the early going, with Langstaff top of the goal scoring charts for the division with an impressive 10 goals netted already, and Scott weighing in with 3. The pair came in to replace the fire-power of the departing striker Kyle Wooton and attacking midfielder Callum Roberts who have both moved on to Stockport County and Aberdeen respectively. The former finished as last season's joint top scorer in the league for the club alongside Portuguese forward Ruben Rodrigues, who has remained with The Magpies for the upcoming season and will be another key attacking player to look out for in Saturday's game. Rodrigues was named in the Vanarama National League Team of the Season for last term, alongside full back Jayden Richardson, on loan at Meadow Lane last year but recalled by parent club and city neighbours Nottingham Forest and subsequently sold to Aberdeen during the summer.
A number of the key personal from last season have been retained, including defender Richard Brindley and midfielder Matt Palmer, with further additions arriving in the form of Kidderminster Harriers pair Geraldo Bajrami (defender) and Sam Austin (midfielder), West Brom U21 midfielder Quevin Castro on a half-season loan, plus former Eastbourne Borough and Ebbsfleet United full-back Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, who has featured against Wanderers on a few occasion's in recent years.
Manager Luke Williams arrived in the close season having previously taken up the reigns at Swindon Town between 2016 and 2017, prior to more recently being the assistant coach to Russell Martin at MK Dons and Swansea City. Williams will be hoping to lead Notts County over the promotion line this term after three unsuccessful play-off finishes in the past three years since the club were relegated from the Football League at the end of the 2018/19 season. Current Solihull Moors boss Neal Ardley was at the helm when the club came down, and guided them to the play-off final in the subsequent Covid-19 affected campaign, where an immediate bounce back was ultimately denied by Harrogate Town, who ran out 3-1 winners behind closed doors at Wembley. Ian Burchnall, now manager at Forest Green Rovers, took to the dugout in March '21 and guided County to consecutive 5th placed league finishes, with defeats then suffered in the semi-final and eliminator stages of the play-off's in each of the last two season's respectively.
REMINDER: Saturday's game is all-ticket, secure yours now at:
https://dorkingwanderersfc.ktckts.com/event/dor2223h05/notts-county