The Football League Trophy may come as a welcomed distraction for the Blades, whom seem to be struggling in League One, despite currently laying 7th in the table. In their last three matches they have won against Doncaster Rovers, drawn 0-0 at Burton Albion and last Saturday lost 2-1 at Port Vale.
Port Vale produced an impressive first-half performance and held firm after the break to claim a deserved 2-1 victory over Sheffield United. Vale made a confident start and took the lead in the 17th minute after United goalkeeper Mark Howard saved Colin Daniel's initial header. The loose ball fell back into the path of Daniel, who played a square pass for Byron Moore to sweep a low left-foot shot into the centre of goal from six yards.
Defender Richard Duffy denied Billy Sharp an equaliser shortly afterwards, but Vale dominated the rest of the first half and deservedly doubled their lead just before the interval. Uche Ikpeazu swept past a couple of half-hearted challenges to crash a right-foot shot from 18 yards, which struck the underside of the crossbar on its way into the right-hand side of Howard's net.
United brought on Terry Kennedy and Che Adams at half-time and should have reduced the arrears within two minutes when Vale keeper Jak Alnwick saved Sharp's shot from point-blank range. Vale responded and almost added a third in the 67th minute when Daniel's 14-yard strike rattled the crossbar.
The visitors then pulled a goal back with virtually the last kick of the match, when substitute Matt Done spun to fire a left-foot shot into the right-hand corner of Alnwick's net from the edge of the six-yard box.
Taking into account competition rules (see below), it is likely that Nigel Adkins will rest a proportion of his squad to face the Mapies. This could indicate an inclusion for Diego DeGirolamo, Conor Dimao, George Long and Terry Kennedy. However they will be without midfielder Chris Basham who picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the defeat at Port Vale, therefore he will sit out a one-match suspension.
Nott's County will doubt be looking for that bounce back ability having suffered relegation from League One last season. Currently laying 16th in the table, the Magpies boss Ricardo Moniz may be required to take inspiration from their ladies side, whom successfully reached the final of the Women's FA Cup - losing to Chelsea at Wembley.
Their season started off brightly with a 2-0 win on the opening day at Stevenage, but it all went downhill from there and didn't win a league fixture again until 12 September at home to Luton. Since then they have claimed further victories against Crawley Town and York City, however they lost 3-1 at promotion challengers Leyton Orient this weekend.
A brace by Sammy Moore and one from Jay Simpson gave Leyton Orient their first win in six league games as they beat Notts County 3-1 at Brisbane Road. Midfielder Moore opened the scoring after 16 minutes when he sprung the offside trap to stab the ball past Magpies goalkeeper Scott Loach from close range to record his first goal in an Orient shirt since his summer move from AFC Wimbledon.
Having dominated the first half, Orient were rocked when their opponents equalised 33 seconds into the second period when Jon Stead found himself unmarked at the far post. Both teams were evenly-matched before Orient regained the advantage in the 79th minute after substitute Blair Turgott found Sean Clohessy whose shot was parried by Loach straight to the feet of Simpson who netted his seventh league goal of the campaign.
The goal raised the home side's tempo and they settled the issue seven minutes from time with a wonderful strike from Moore who beat Loach from 30 yards, sending the ball into the top-right corner.
The Magpies made nine changes at Orient and may well field a full strength side to face the Blades, this will include former trialist Roy Carroll and striker Izale McLeod.
Competition Rules
Under competition rules each club must include in its starting line-up at least six of the eleven players who started the Club fixture immediately preceding or following the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie (against Port Vale (a) and Rochdale (h)). Alternatively, a Club must include in its starting line-up at least six of the eleven players who have made the most starting appearances in League and domestic cup competitions during the season so far. Meanwhile, there is guaranteed no extra-time, should the scores be level at 90 minutes, the game will go straight to a penalty shoot-out.
Blades-Mad Prediction: Sheffield United 2 Nott's County 0
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