Paris-born Algerian midfielder Hamza Bencherif spoke to the Nottingham Post ahead of his side's 2011-12 League One season opener against Carlisle at Brunton Park, Bencherif saying the Magpies may have a strong chance of being promoted this year :
"I think if everyone gets behind every player we can have a really strong team and a really strong chance to battle for promotion this year. We're really pleased, the friendly games have been really helpful for us to get our ideas and football right and to work on the shape we want to play. The scores didn't matter but it mattered we did things right before the season starts.
"I think if we play like we did against Wolves in pre-season in league games this season, with a bit more confidence and with the fans behind us, we can do really well and worry lots of promotion contenders. But, the start is really important. The season is long and different teams can do well at different times. We want to start the season with a good pace, play well and win games at the beginning and keep a nice steady pace throughout the whole season, and we'll see where we are at the end of it."
Meanwhile County goalkeeper Stuart Nelson told the Post :
"We've had a very good pre-season and all the lads are fit and ready to go now. We've played a lot of games and worked really hard to build-up to the first game at Carlisle and we're really upbeat and looking forward to it. The club is ready to go to the next level. We have got a squad ready to compete and we're all really looking forward to starting the season. We need to hit the ground running and I'm sure we will because we've had a good pre-season."
In team news for the visitors, despite it being the opening day of the season, they still have a few injury problems to contend with, with left-back Stephen Hunt and burly striker Ben Burgess both ruled out with respective long-term ankle and hamstring injuries. Meanwhile, they also have a trio of influential players who will be undergoing fitness tests before the game today to see if they can take any part in the match, the three being midfielder and skipper Neal Bishop (ankle), winger Alan Judge (hamstring) and veteran frontman Lee Hughes who has only played 30 minutes during pre-season because of a sinus problem.
So, to bolster his squad Magpies boss Martin Allen yesterday signed 19-year old Colombian-born left-winger/striker Cristian Montano on loan from West Ham for a month. That therefore meaning the County squad that travelled up to Cumbria yesterday is as follows :
Goalkeepers – Rob Burch and Stuart Nelson.
Defenders – Liam Chilvers, Mike Edwards, Jon Harley, Julian Kelly, Krystian Pearce, Alan Sheehan, Sam Sodje and Jude Stirling.
Midfielders – Charlie Allen, Hamza Bencherif, Neal Bishop, Ishmel Demontagnac, Jeff Hughes, Alan Judge, Ricky Ravenhill and John Spicer.
Forwards – Karl Hawley, Lee Hughes, Cristian Montano and Craig Westcarr.
The referee for today's match, in which under new Football League rules both sides will only have five substitutes on the bench, is Gary Sutton from Lincoln and he will be assisted down the lines by Paul Kettlewell from Lancaster and Bob Roberts from Leyland, near Preston. Meanwhile the fourth official is local referee Anthony Backhouse from Heads Nook.