Stat Attack: Notts County vs. Accrington Stanley

Notts County have only played Accrington Stanley 13 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 18 November 2014, an FA Cup first round replay which ended 2-1 to Stanley.

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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Jimmy Spencer's leg fracture has added to Notts County's injury woes ahead of the visit of Accrington.

Spencer suffered a small crack to the tibia during the defeat to Mansfield last weekend and the striker, who subsequently missed the loss at Oxford on Tuesday night, is expected to be out for around a month.

He joins defender Civard Sprockel and midfielder Curtis Thompson in the treatment room while Ronan Murray and Taylor McKenzie remain long-term absentees.

However, Ricardo Moniz is boosted by the return of defender Mawouna Amevor from a three-match suspension.

Accrington have a fully fit squad going into the clash, with forward Shay McCartan back from a broken wrist.

McCartan, who has been selected for the Under 21's Northern Ireland squad, sustained the injury in a freak training ground incident and has missed the opening fortnight of the season.

Terry Gornell will be pushing for a start after he was restricted to the bench in Tuesday's 1-0 win over Mansfield after an ankle problem.