Double goal hero Liam Noble spoke to Magpie Player after County's victory over Huddersfield Town...
"We knew if we came down and played our own game we had a great chance of winning and get through to the next round and I think we did that tonight brilliantly."
"If we play our own game, if we go away to any team or they come to us at Meadow Lane we can give any team a good game no matter what level they’re at. The gaffer likes us to press and I think he’s right if you press any one at any level, like you saw tonight, we’re in with a chance of winning
Despite Saturday's opening game victory over Stevenage, the players and staff have insisted they can improve and Liam thought they did just that, "we knew we need to come away and be better. Stevenage was good but not good enough. We’ve come away to a Championship team and we’ve proved what we can do."
The midfielder netted both goals for the Magpies, but he gave credit to the experienced Alan Smith for his work behind the scenes. "It was a brilliant ball looped over and a brilliant ball back form De Silva. I need to give a lot of credit to Alan Smith. He does a lot of work with us in training, in timing my runs to the edge of the box. He’s played at the top level so I’m only learning from the best and he’s improved my game a lot."
"It’s all about the timing of the run, in the past few years I might not have made the run, but part of the game when you’ve got one up front is to make those runs to the edge of the box, and as I said Alan Smith’s been working with us a lot on them."
Noble's second goal saw the former Carlisle man lob Joe Murphy in the hosts' goal from all of 35 yards, "I’ve seen him on the edge of the box out the corner of my eye and I’ve just thought why not? I've given it a go and it’s paid off in the end."
"I think it has to be up there [as one of my best goals], I took it quick but I think it’s one of the best I’ve ever scored."
The draw for the next round will take place after Thursday's last tie of the first round, and Noble told Magpie Player that the most crucial thing is being in the hat for the second round, "The most important thing tonight is getting through to the next round, the goals are always a bonus but as I said the most important thing is getting through to the next round."