Glen Harrington
11:51am, Fri 7th Oct 2022
Woking vs Notts County
Vanarama National League
Saturday 8th October 2022
Woking return to the Laithwaite Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon when they host National League leaders Notts County, looking to extend a three-match unbeaten run.
The Cards, who have lost all three previous meetings against County at Kingfield, will be feeling positive after doubling their seasonal points tally away from home after taking four points from games with Halifax and Southend. On Tuesday evening, Reece Grego-Cox netted his fifth goal of the season to tie with James Daly at the top of the Woking scoring charts, as the Cards earned a credible 1-1 draw at Roots Hall. The result keeps Woking in the play-off places after 12 games.
Woking fans will be waiting for news on the fitness of defender Scott Cuthbert and midfielder Jim Kellermann, who both missed Tuesday’s game after sustaining knocks against Halifax the previous Saturday and were replaced by Joe McNerney and Jermaine Anderson at Roots Hall. Manager Darren Sarll was at least boosted by the returns of Sid Nelson, Tyreke Johnson, and Jack Roles, who missed the Halifax game through illness, and were on the bench on Tuesday.
Opposition Watch
Notts County are in their fourth season at National League level after being relegated to non-league for the first time in their history in 2019. They have never failed to reach the play-offs in their three seasons in the fifth tier with league finishes of third, fifth, and fifth – losing the play-off final to Harrogate in 2020, before extra time defeats to Torquay and Grimsby respectively at earlier stages over the past two years.
This season, they are once again expected to be amongst the challengers for promotion and have started brilliantly with eight wins and just one defeat from their 12 games so far. They currently have 27 points, one clear of second-place Wrexham, who they beat 1-0 in their last game. After drawing three of their first four games, they’ve won seven of their last eight, with the only hiccup a surprise 3-1 defeat at Dorking Wanderers.
Their excellent start has been inspired by new signing Macauley Langstaff, part of the National League North winning Gateshead side last season, who has scored an incredible 15 goals in 12 games thus far, netting twice in a game on five occasions as well as scoring a hat-trick against Dagenham. Amongst the other new arrivals at County this season is Langstaff’s former Gateshead strike partner Cedwyn Scott, who has scored four times, as well as Kidderminster duo Sam Austin and Geraldo Bajrami, plus Ebbsfleet wing-back Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, with a notable focus on high-performing players from the sixth tier which has served them well in the first part of the season.
The summer break did see the departure of several high-profile players, including Kyle Wootton, their top scorer for the past three seasons with 47 goals in 115 league games, who joined last season’s National League winners Stockport County, and Callum Roberts, who moved to Scotland with Premiership side Aberdeen. However, they were crucially able to keep hold of Rúben Rodrigues, who also attracted reported interest from a higher level.
Recent Meetings
• Woking
0-2 Notts County – 26th February 2022, National League
• Notts County
1-4 Woking – 2nd October 2021, National League (Effiong, Diarra, Campbell 2)
• Woking
2-4 Notts County – 5th April 2021, National League (Kretzschmar, Ashford)
• Notts County
1-0 Woking – 5th December 2020, National League
• Notts County
1-1 Woking – 15th February 2020, National League (Kretzschmar)
Tickets
When pre-purchased, ticket prices are £20 for Adults, £15 for Concessions, £12 for Next-Gen and £5 for Under 16s. Tickets bought on the gate on the day are charged at an additional £2.
For more information and to book your ticket please
click here.
