MAGPIES are often accused of stealing — but on Saturday Aldershot bid to turn the tables and become the first side to nick a league win at Meadow Lane this season.

Notts County — the Magpies — have won five and drawn three of their eight home games and have scored in every one of those matches.

Only Championship side Doncaster Rovers, in the League Cup, have kept a clean sheet and won at Meadow Lane.

So, tomorrow is arguably the  toughest test the division has to offer for Aldershot’s emerging defence, which has kept three clean sheets in a row.

County may only be sixth in the table but the club appear to be settling down after the summer furore of their cash injection and the arrival of Sven Goran-Eriksson as director of football. Eriksson, incidentally, was busy working hard in Nottingham on Wednesday evening — switching on the city’s Christmas lights.

The Sol Campbell fiasco — the former England defender lasted just one game, after a rude awakening at Morecambe — has been and gone, as has Ian McParland, who was fired as manager in October.

Now, under the guidance of Eriksson’s compatriot, Hans Backe, County are making quieter progress, unbeaten in eight league games and into the 2nd Round of the FA Cup, after seeing off Bradford City.

Up front they have the prolific Lee Hughes, who has already scored two league hat-tricks, as a spearhead, supported by Luke Rodgers, a player Gary Waddock apparently tried to bring to Aldershot in the summer.

County have a strong spine, with Kasper Schmeichel, son of Peter, in goal, and a midfield possibly featuring Ben Davies, Johnnie Jackson and Matt Ritchie, who was so impressive for Dagenham & Redbridge down the left against the Shots last season. Ritchie has more than filled the void left by Myles Weston's departure to Brentford.

Jackson is a doubt with a calf strain, while Davies is struggling to recover from illness.

The versatile, experienced Jamie Clapham can play in either midfield or at fullback. Last week at Bury, with Davies ill, he played in central midfield and was, according to his manager, a revelation.

Clapham's calm play, supported by Ricky Ravenhill and Neal Bishop, allowed Backe to experiment with a 4-3-3 formation that he may well stick with. Up front, Hughes was supported by widemen Ritchie and Rodgers.

Key central defender Mike Edwards is suspended on Saturday, however; club captain John Thompson will probably come in.

Backe is yet to win in the league, after seeing his side draw 1-1 with Shrewsbury and 3-3 at Bury. Indeed, while the statistics suggest Meadow Lane is a fortress, County have drawn their last two league games at home, included a 2-2 setback against struggling Torquay, which proved to be McParland’s undoing.

That said, Backe's early decision to change formation against Shrewsbury, when County were trailing in the first half, suggests they have a tactically astute manager who is not afraid to make bold decisions. What he now needs is to turn draws into wins: County have drawn five of their last six league games.

While Backe has been in charge for three games, Saturday will be Aldershot manager Kevin Dillon’s second match in charge - and his first away from home. The Shots are very unlikely to head to Nottingham with all guns blazing for victory. Dillon’s quiet satisfaction with a clean sheet and a point last Saturday at home to Macclesfield said plenty about his philosophy; Dillon is not a man for giving things away cheaply and will seek victory via canny means.

“I do believe that the emphasis is always on the home team to take the game to visitors,” said Dillon.

“The longer a visiting team can keep the score at 0-0, the more likely it is that the home side will get frustrated and have to make changes. That is when the opposition can seize the initiative.

“County’s fans will expect them to win every game at home and that is understandable given the changes at the club recently.

“County have put themselves in the firing line and hopefully we can be the ones to shoot them down.” So, Aldershot's guns will be firing, if not blazing.

The problem, however, is that County have proved adept at meeting the challenge that the Meadow Lane expectation brings. “Plenty of teams have set their stall out but they haven’t stopped County scoring,” agreed Dillon. “It is going to be a very tough game for us.” County average just shy of three goals a game at home.

Dillon will hope that the back four that has looked so solid in the last three games can remain in place at County.

The major doubt is captain Adam Hinshelwood, who hobbled off again last week, troubled by persistent knee and hamstring probems. In all likelihood, however, Hinshelwood will play, after nursing his knee through the week.

“It’s up to Hinsh,” said Dillon. “He knows his body better than anyone and how to look after it. Of course he needs to train to an extent but it’s fine with me if he needs to do things differently to be ready for a match. He’s a professional and will do what he has to do.”

Dave Winfield is available again after suspension but Chris Blackburn is now ahead of him in the pecking order, should Hinshelwood miss out.

“Ideally we don’t want to have to change the defence,” said Dillon. “It is the cornerstone that we are working from.”

In midfield, good news for Dillon is that both John Halls and Ben Harding came through the reserves’ 2-1 defeat away to Crawley on Tuesday evening.

Dillon has as close to an embarrassment of riches in midfield as a small squad can allow, with Scott Donnelly a certain starter and Louie Soares and Lewis Chalmers doing well in recent weeks, too.

Halls’s class and experience will probably mean that he is not out of the team for long, however, especially as Soares can also play out wide. It will be interesting to see whether, over time, Dillon reverts to Waddock's first choice central midfield, of Donnelly, Halls and Harding.

“We are strong in midfield, I’m very happy with what I have got,” said Dillon. He said that Kirk Hudson has particularly caught his eye.

“Kirky’s a match-winner,” said Dillon. “There is more to come from him. Last week he had food poisoning for three days before the Macclesfield game and hadn’t been able to train.”

Last season the Shots led 1-0 at County late into the game but conceded two goals. Match-winner that day, Richard Butcher, is now at Lincoln City.

The gap between Aldershot and County is even greater this season, certainly in financial clout. That County's new man in charge has nearly 30 years of management experience, while Aldershot's has fewer than 30 days, says it all.

But Dillon will be quietly confident that his side can give County a run for all that money of theirs; and, if he was happy with a point at home to Macclesfield last week, he will be ecstatic with the same on Saturday.

Aldershot will play Tranmere Rovers away in their FA Cup 2nd Round tie (November 28).

Rovers won 1-0 at Leyton Orient in Tuesday’s 1st Round replay, which was watched by Kevin Dillon.

“All credit to Tranmere,” said Dillon. “They set their stall out from the off and got a late goal on the break. Their plan worked. They didn’t look like a struggling team to me — I would take a 1-0 win every week.”

Tranmere have had a wretched season to date in League One, however, and Aldershot are quite capable of causing an upset.

“It’s a pretty good draw for us,” said Dillon. “But I feel for the fans.

“Orient away would have been far easier for them, especially as we have so many northern opponents in the league.”

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