DPL v Notts County

Rovers' history with Notts County has ranged over all the FL divisions and leagues we have played in in my life-time. In recent years encounters have not been regular and like Rovers, County have been through some bad times and have not rivalled their near neighbours this century.

With better quality football almost next door it takes great loyalty to stick with a club, so we must give due credit to their fans.

My memory is that we have not had really good results head to head, but as I write, I have not looked up the stats. Having now looked them up, I am wrong - we have won more than they have! What stands out is the high scoring. 5-1s either way in the 50s in the old Second Division and a far greater incidence of one team scoring 4 goals than I would expect. And last season that trend continued - 3 goals conceded both home and away.

County were erratic last season and the pattern of their results has been rather erratic this time too, but overall they have gathered as many points as Rovers with an unbeaten away record probably partly due to having a good defensive record which they didn't have last season if I remember correctly. So it will be as tough as Chesterfield and they will have a lot of support.

I think we are at a point where you can say that we can beat any team in this league if we play well, but we do not always capitalise on possession, so much depends on the big match temperament which obviously wasn't present when we met Chesterfield.

If we are to make the top 3 places we cannot really afford to drop points against rivals, so I am hoping we can play to our best and I hope McCann has a full squad to choose from.

So I'll say 2-1 and Sharp or Hurst with number 1.