Stat Attack: Accrington Stanley vs. Notts County

Notts County have only played Accrington Stanley 14 times in their history. The first fixtures were in August and December 1958, when both sides played in Division Three. The Magpies drew 1-1 in the first match, before losing 3-0 in the second.

A hiatus of 48 years followed before the teams met again in the fourth tier, now called League Two, on 9 September 2006. The result was a 3-2 win to Notts.

The last time the two met was on 22 August 2015, a 1-1 draw in League Two.

The original town's team, Accrington, were amongst the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888, before resigning from the league after just five years.

A team called Stanley Villa already existed at the time, named as such because they were based at the Stanley Arms on Stanley Street in Accrington. With the demise of Accrington, Stanley Villa took the town name to become Accrington Stanley.

The club re-formed after World War I and entered the League in 1921 with the formation of the old Third Division North, along with the other top northern non-League clubs.

This original incarnation was dissolved in 1966, before re-emerging two years later. In 2005–06, Stanley won the Football Conference and were promoted to League Two.

Ironically, Oxford United, the team they switched places with, was the team that had been elected to replace the former Accrington Stanley as members of the Football League in 1962 when they were struggling with debt.

Accrington Stanley is perhaps most well known for being discussed in a late 1980s advert by the Milk Marketing Board (for all you younger readers, Ian Rush was one of the greatest strikers of his day, and Liverpool's all-time leading goalscorer).

Famous people from Accrington include Vicky Entwhistle and Julie Hesmondhalgh from Coronation Street, Yes singer Jon Anderson, cricketer Mike Atherton, Diana Vickers from The X Factor, and Mystic Meg.

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Josh Windass and Matt Crooks are both available for Accrington's fixture with Notts. On Wednesday the duo signed pre-contract terms with Scottish side Rangers to move to Ibrox in the summer, but Stanley manager John Coleman confirmed they will be considered as normal in the meantime.

Joe Wright, Brad Halliday and Liam Wakefield all extended deals with the east Lancashire club until the end of the season this week so will also stay in the reckoning.

Central defender Dean Winnard, however, has been absent since mid-November.

Notts caretaker managers Mick Halsall and Richard Dryden expect to have Alan Smith available, despite the experienced midfielder holding transfer talks with League Two leaders Plymouth.

Scot Bennett will be back in the squad after returning from his loan spell at Newport. It was hoped the defender would be able to feature last weekend against Oxford but international clearance was not received in time.

Bennett will be vying for a recall to the starting line-up along with the likes of Thierry Audel, Curtis Thompson, Jimmy Spencer and Ronan Murray.

Midfielder Liam Noble will complete a four-match suspension while winger Will Hayhurst remains a long-term injury absentee.