Wealdstone v Notts County - Match Preview

THE DETAILS

Wealdstone v Notts County Vanarama National League Grosvenor Vale

Saturday 13th March, 3:00pm kick-off

HOW TO WATCH

Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions enforced by UK government, all elite football in England is required to be played behind closed doors. As a result we will be streaming this fixture live and you can purchase your streaming pass HERE.

THE CONTEXT

Wealdstone welcome the world's oldest professional football club slightly earlier than planned with Notts County's progression in the FA Trophy originally postponing the tie, but with County due to play the now defunct Macclesfield Town and Stones due to travel to the now unavailable Dover Athletic the tie was brought forward by a fortnight. The game will be Wealdstone boss Stuart Maynard's first game as First Team Manager after a successful spell as Caretaker the past four weeks and will be coming off a positive 3-1 win over King's Lynn Town, the Stones first league win by more than a single goal this season, whilst the Magpies were beaten 2-1 at home by FC Halifax Town.

TEAM NEWS Michee Efete and Dan Wishart both returned to the side against King's Lynn Town after picking up knocks in the previous week. George Langston suffered a further setback with his injury and looks to be out until next month along with Josh Meekings. Joseph Olowu has returned to Arsenal for treatment on his calf injury and Connor Smith remains a doubt with an ankle injury. Daniel Bowry continues his suspension he received for his red card against FC Halifax Town.

FORM GUIDE Stones:

King's Lynn Town (H) 3-1 W (Green, Lafayette, Mendy) FC Halifax Town (H) 1-2 L (Lewis) Boreham Wood (H) 1-0 W (Smith)

Wrexham (A) 4-1 L (Parish)

Eastleigh (H) 0-0 D

Notts County:

FC Halifax Town (H) 1-2 L (Boldewijn) King's Lynn Town (H) 2-2 D (Wootton 2) Oxford City (H) 3-1 W (Sam 2, Knowles) Stockport County (A) 0-0 D Chesterfield (H) 0-1 L

WHAT WAS SAID Stuart Maynard: "We lost 3-0 up at their place, they're a very good team, they play 4-4-2 and move the ball between the lines very well, we will prepare well but most importantly recover. You can look to our home form and it's been a bit of a fortress, obviously when the fans come back we'll want to make it even more of a fortress here. So when clubs like Notts County come here and the dressing room's tiny, it's hostile, the fans are right on the pitch compared to their stadium, so we do miss the fans on weekends like this when the big clubs come to our ground but we will be tactically set-up right and have a game plan for them."

WHO TO WATCH FOR? Elisha Sam: The 23-year old Belgian winger joined the Magpies in the summer on a free transfer from Bulgarian First League side Arda Kardzhali and his goals in the FA Trophy this season have booked Notts County a semi-final tie against Hornchurch. His stunning back-heel volley against Oxford City in the quarter-final has already been brandished a Puskas Award nominee by pundits, but aside from that he poses a threat down both wings and scored against the Stones in the reverse fixture at Meadow Lane back in November.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Played - 2 Won - 0 Drawn - 0 Lost - 2

LAST TWO MEETINGS

Nov 2020 - Notts County 3-0 Stones Apr 1931 - Stones 3-8 Notts County (Hoskins, Maskell, Bowyer)

MATCH SPONSORS We would like to thank Tuesday night's match sponsors Rolfe-East and Harrow Windows and ball sponsors Ray Corner & Peter Carter.

Preview by Chris Woods