OPPONENTS: Notts County Football Club – Easter Monday (17th April) – 3pm
MANAGER: Kevin Nolan
NICKNAME: The Magpies
LEAGUE POSITION: 15th
THE JOURNEY: Fratton Park to Meadow Lane: 3 hours 20 minutes, just shy of 200 miles.
LAST TIME OUT:
* Gary Roberts pounced on a loose ball in the 6 yard box to cancel out Jake Jervis’s first half header.
* Notts County twice took the lead away to Crewe, but twice got pegged back and left with a point.
* Another instance of Pompey slipping up at home. Adam Campbell’s double was enough to see Notts County take an incredibly unlikely 3 points away from Fratton Park. The 2-1 win was the Magpies only victory between October and January (21 games).
POMPEY STATS:
* The 3-0 defeat against Stevenage remains Portsmouth’s only blip on the road in the last 6 games, having won 4 and drawing 1 of the others.
* A win against Notts County, coupled with Luton Town failing to beat Mansfield will see Pompey clinch promotion with 3 games still to play.
* Portsmouth have been awarded 11 penalties this season, which is the joint highest in the whole of the English League. Of these 11 we have scored 5 and missed 6.
* Pompey lead the league for number of different goalscorers. Excluding own goals, Pompey have found the net through 19 different players. Of those 19, only Milan Lalkovic (1) and Michael Smith (3) are not part of the current squad.
* Top Scorers: Naismith/Roberts (10) Chaplin (8)
NOTTS COUNTY STATS:
* Despite going on a run where they managed just 1 point out of 36, Notts County have recovered well and have won 8 and drawn 3 of their last 13 games.
* At home, The Magpies have not lost in 2017, winning 5 and drawing 3 of their 8 league games
* Despite being roughly the same size as Fratton Park, County’s Meadow Lane averages just 5,600 people per game (up from 4,800 last season). However, with Pompey repeatedly selling out their allocation (which currently stands at around 5,000), you can expect one of their biggest crowds of the season, and possibly more away fans than home.
* Notts County are widely recognised as the World’s Oldest Football club still playing at a professional level. Their earliest game on record dates back 155 years to 1862. That’s nearly 5,000 League games, 7 generations, or 1 trophy if you live in the SO postcode.
* Top Scorers: Jon Stead (14) Jonathan Forte (8) Shola Ameobi (4)
HEAD TO HEAD (Courtesy of Pompeyrama.com):
* The Magpies have the edge over Pompey since 1926, currently holding 13 wins over the Blues, who have 10 wins. In addition, 6 games have finished level.
* Since Pompey’s decent through the leagues, the two sides have met on 6 occasions, with Notts County winning 5 of them.
* The exception was at Fratton Park 12 months ago, when Pompey cruised to a 4-0 win with goals from Burgess, McNulty and a brace from Bennett. The corresponding fixture last season saw County win 2-1, with Caolan Lavery scoring for Pompey.
PLAYED FOR US/PLAYED FOR “THEM”:
* Carl Dickenson – The left back joined Pompey on loan from Stoke in the Championship days of 2010/11. He played 36 games and was resigned by Appleton in 2012, but after only a month he was returned to Watford when Whittingham replaced Appleton.
* Richard Duffy – The Welshman was signed by Harry Redknapp in 2004 but failed to make a start in the league. He played numerous cup games before being loaned out to Coventry, Burnley and Swansea before being sold to Millwall 5 years later.
* Enda Stevens – The Pompey left-back who this week celebrated being named in the EFL team of the Season spent a very short time at Notts County on loan from Villa, playing just twice.
* Stanley Aborah – Even though he’s yet to break into the first team, Aborah was highly rated at Notts County before being released 3 months ago and joining the Blues.
* Jonathan Forte – Played for that lot down the road for a while, it may be worth reminding him of that.
ONE TO WATCH:
* Jon Stead – The Magpies have quite a few big names in their squad: Kevin Nolan, Shola Ameobi and Alan Smith to name a few. Alongside them is former Blackburn and Sunderland striker Jon Stead, who at 34 years old is still banging in the goals for County. He has a great deal of top flight experience and is an asset to the club, currently sitting on 14 goals for the season.
RIVAL WATCH:
* Doncaster (1st) v Blackpool
* Plymouth (2nd) v Newport County
* Mansfield v Luton (4th)
* Carlisle v Stevenage (5th)
PREDICTION:
* This could be the day we’ve been building for all season. It’s surely just a matter of time before promotion is confirmed, although I have a feeling we’ll need to wait until next Saturday to get it. Not for the first time this season we are playing a team in form, and I think this will end in a 1-1 draw.
LAST 3 GAMES (and their current League Position):
22/04 – Cambridge United (H) – 11th
29/04 – Mansfield Town (A) – 10th
06/05 – Cheltenham Town (H) – 21st
PUP
Written by PompeyFrippy and originally posted in the forum.
The views within this article are the views of the individual who wrote and submitted this piece, sometimes solely theirs. They are not necessarily shared by the Vital Pompey Site Journalists.
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2016-17 Prediction League – April
Notts County (a) – Monday 17th April – click here.
Cambridge (h) – Saturday 22nd April – click here.
Mansfield (a) – Saturday 29th April – click here.
