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Kyle Wootton’s second half equaliser just over a week ago forced an FA Cup First Round replay for Notts County against League Two side Rochdale with the Magpies holding all the momentum heading into the fixture.
Robbie Stockdale’s Rochdale are yet to pick up a victory in their last three outings in all competitions, coming off the back of a 2-2 draw at home to Leyton Orient on Saturday.
Notts County, however, are now unbeaten in eight games across all competitions and will look to keep their hot streak going after a comfortable 2-0 win over Solihull Moors at the weekend which broke the National League attendance record.
The Dale’s last trip to Meadow Lane ended in triumph as they came away as 2-1 winners in the EFL Trophy thanks to strikes from Sanmi Odelusi and Steven Davies.
The winner of this replay will face either Sheffield Wednesday or Plymouth Argyle in an ITV4 televised Second Round tie on December 5th.
Magpies boss Ian Burchnall told the media a replayed tie was far from the end of the world as his side look to cause an upset.
“Of course, we’d rather win the [first]game and not have to replay, but we love to play the games. For me, when I came in, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday – was how it was anyway. And we coped with that physically, we’ve got a good medical team.
“The fact we’ve got back-to-back games at Meadow Lane is brilliant, and December’s actually quite a quiet month when you look at the fixtures unless we get through and start taking more replays again!”
Dale boss Robbie Stockdale looked ahead to the tie and stressed this will be a very different game to the ones they are used to playing with two technically gifted teams going head-to-head.
“It’ll be a very technical game, different from the one we played on Saturday. Notts County came here and showed that they like to play the ball out from the back and they’re a good footballing team.
“It’s a fantastic ‘carrot at the end’ that says a home tie on TV, so that’s all in the focus but we’ve got to deal with the 90 minutes, extra-time or penalties – whatever it takes to get through.”
Kyle Cameron and Jim O’Brien both missed out on Saturday’s record-breaking game at Meadow Lane through injury and Ian Burchnall will be hoping both players can get back to fitness for the fixture against the Greater Manchester outfit.
Alex Newby and Max Taylor are both back in training for Rochdale after a spell on the sidelines and are expected to be involved for the travelling side. However, the visitors will be without Jim McNulty as he continues his rehab.
Rochdale will look to take revenge after being denied a late penalty shout in the previous game, but red-hot Notts County looks the more attractive side to progress into the next round of the competition.
