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Mikel Bee wrote:Notts County have pulled out of their FA Cup game and postponed their next 2 league games.

I thought Notts Co had a huge squad? Certainly around the time of the Play Offs people on here were making comparisons between us and them which inferred that. Yet now they "only" have 6 players who've tested positive yet say they've only got 14 available players? Whilst we have 9 players out yet are hoping to play. Weird.

ETBee wrote:This calls for a quick visit to the Hive tomorrow to see who is on the training field.

Club have asked fans to stay away for safety reasons.

#Beebot wrote:

MCB wrote:Leiston 5/2 with Paddy Power....

Now drifted to 11/2. I'm not a betting man but I couldn't resist that.

I got them at 6/1 and also draw no bet at 5/1 - even saw them go out to 13/2 briefly which I’m baffled by.

Bookies obviously not following this news

There's a comment on Leiston's Twitter from someone saying that this is a massive match, arguably the biggest in their club's history!

becbee wrote:There's a comment on Leiston's Twitter from someone saying that this is a massive match, arguably the biggest in their club's history!

They're a very small club historically, only joined the league system in 2001 and have only reached round 1 of the cup once before. The biggest team they beat on that run was Lewes, I think we are bigger than them!

It is a massive game for them. And they will be well up for it, backed by a crowd of 600 home fans only. The odds are well and truly stacked against us.

But we still don't know which players of ours are out. Some of them could be the "fringe youngsters" like Tompkins, Hernandez, Pascal and Vasiliou. If that's the case, no disprespect to them, but maybe we still have a chance of digging in. I just hope that whatever side we field, we still have a bit of a spine to it.

becbee wrote:I can well understand why the club are desperate to cobble together a team for the FA Cup tie. However if we play on Saturday, we'll have no excuse not to play the league match at Wrexham next Tuesday. That sounds like probably 3 points down the pan.

Was thinking the same thing. Also how can we apparently play with 9 players effected either having or isolating from covid. Symptoms. But call of game against Hartlepool with max of a possible 4 players. Unless FA cup against lower league level teams count differently from our league matches. And then if negative tests don't come back before Monday night will be permitted to say we cannot play Wrexham game because of the tests we have and the 9 players we have unavailable. As mentioned Notts county have pulled out of the FA cup and two league games with i believe 4 players unavailable.

The problem for the Hartlepool game was that the club did not have the results back for the rest of the squad.

Roy57 wrote:
Was thinking the same thing. Also how can we apparently play with 9 players effected either having or isolating from covid. Symptoms. But call of game against Hartlepool with max of a possible 4 players. Unless FA cup against lower league level teams count differently from our league matches. And then if negative tests don't come back before Monday night will be permitted to say we cannot play Wrexham game because of the tests we have and the 9 players we have unavailable. As mentioned Notts county have pulled out of the FA cup and two league games with i believe 4 players unavailable.

My understanding is with our game against Hartlepool and Notts County game this weekend, we had to wait for results to come through from those showing symptoms, and when they came through positive we then had a responsibility to get other players tested who may be infected - and we wouldn't have got those back BEFORE the game.

This time around against Leiston, we've had the tests and results back, and by putting the players into isolation can ensure that those who test negative have not subsequently mixed with those who have tested positive.

Basically - the players that take the field for us tomorrow have tested negative and are NOT a risk. We couldn't have guaranteed that against Hartlepool.

Roy57 wrote: Also how can we apparently play with 9 players effected either having or isolating from covid. Symptoms. But call of game against Hartlepool with max of a possible 4 players.

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The reason for the postponement was that it was a max of a possible 21 players. With several players having spent time in proximity to someone who’d tested positive and no time to get them tested and cleared (or quarantined) before the match, we had to request a postponement for the safety of all. The fact that they did indeed turn out to have the virus and that in turn it was discovered that nearly half the squad plus the manager did as well only confirms that postponement was absolutely the right thing to do.

becbee wrote:

Mikel Bee wrote:Notts County have pulled out of their FA Cup game and postponed their next 2 league games.

I thought Notts Co had a huge squad? Certainly around the time of the Play Offs people on here were making comparisons between us and them which inferred that. Yet now they "only" have 6 players who've tested positive yet say they've only got 14 available players? Whilst we have 9 players out yet are hoping to play. Weird.

I did see that Notts county released 17 over the summer & signed 9 . so obviouxly 8 smaller. Not sure whether any of those left before the play offs though.

By playing tomorrow does it mean we are obliged to play against Wrexham with a depleted squad as I can’t imagime we can pick and choose our matches?

DSM wrote:By playing tomorrow does it mean we are obliged to play against Wrexham with a depleted squad as I can’t imagime we can pick and choose our matches?

I would have thought so, although I’m guessing. The National League need to authorise any postponement request, and they would surely take a dim view of us seeking to pick and choose in that way. It does feel somewhat like we are surrendering 3 points in pursuit of a cup run/prize money. It would have been sad if we’d gone out of the FA Cup without even taking part, so in that respect I’m pleased we’re playing.

I’m liable to be jerrolled, but a quick googling suggests red card suspensions still apply across competitions, so one thing we definitely don’t want tomorrow is ill discipline!

I’m fascinated by what team we’ll be putting out. While we might have 13 or so players available, it’s unlikely that the 9 absentees are evenly weighted between attacking and defending players. I’m imagining a central defensive partnership of Vasilou and Petrasso!

But back to the original point, yes, we are surely going to play, and probably get thumped, by Wrexham on Tuesday.

If anyone can correctly guess tomorrow’s line up I will join Masuka on a naked run!