Shola Ameobi hails partnership with Jon Stead amid upturn in Notts County fortunes

The feelgood factor around Notts County continues as Shola Ameobi praised his teammates, in particular strike partner Jon Stead, as well as miracle worker Kevin Nolan.

The Magpies are 13 points clear of the League Two bottom two with seven games to go, and although safety is not mathematically certain, it has allowed fans to breathe a lot easier, in particular with the downturn in form of basement sides Newport County and Leyton Orient.

Ameobi, who scored the winner in County's 1-0 win at high-flying Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday, told the Nottingham Post: "Jonny did brilliantly down the right and all I had to do was put it in.

"He did most of the work so it's a great feeling, but an even greater feeling knowing we have got the three points.

"We have a lot of experience and hopefully still a little bit of quality in there as well. The more we play together, the more we understand each other's games which is helping.

"But as a team we are evolving. There is a progression and the manager is doing a lot of work in the background and on the training pitch in which he is cultivating a way to play.

"You can see that more and more. We've got it at home but it's about bringing it away which is what he wanted to see at Wycombe.

"We are just delighted that we are able to put up a fight first and foremost, but the defence and Richard Duffy and Haydn Hollis were brilliant at snuffing them out and keeping us out the box.

"It's great to obviously score the goal and for it to be the winner, but the performance, given we have struggled away from home, was excellent.

"The manager has tried to instil the ability to come away from Meadow Lane and that the type of performances we need is the one we showed at Wycombe.

"We want to keep this run going now. We've only lost once in the last eight or nine games and you can see there is a lot of confidence in the boys now in the team and its shape.

"It's great when you get the wins, but it's a continued progression and building on what we have done so far.

"Our home record has been great, and it would be nice to keep that going against Colchester at Meadow Lane on Saturday."

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