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Joe Jones
Kevin Nolan has hailed "another great team performance" by Notts County in their 1-0 win over Barnet, adding that they reacted well after Mark Yeates's early red card.
Matt Tootle's second-half goal proved the difference between the two sides at Meadow Lane on Sunday, but the Magpies were made to work for it after Yeates was controversially sent off.
Nolan told the OS: "It was another great team performance. If anything, the red card sparked us into life - the reaction from the lads was fantastic.
"I thought if anyone was going to go on and score again it would be us. The lads stuck together and everything you want from your team was on show today.
"What we have to do now is follow it up with another win. We've been up and down and that’s something we need to sort out.
“We’re not safe yet, I’ll keep saying that, but we’re looking up and we have brought a group of teams closer towards us."
Nolan also praised the owner, saying: "I think what Alan Hardy has done is brilliant. There were another 7,000 here today and I think they got their money’s worth.
"Alan has done so well off the field, getting the embargo lifted and enabling us bring in six players.
"At this minute in time it’s about taking it game by game, getting as many points on the board as quickly as possible and getting to safety.
"Then we can talk about moving forward and starting the adventure Alan and I believe we can take this club on."
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Joe Jones
Ten-man Notts County took another step towards League Two safety as Matt Tootle's first goal for the club secured a 1-0 win over Barnet at Meadow Lane on Sunday.
The Magpies had a man sent off after just 11 minutes when Mark Yeates was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Ricardo Almeida Santos.
Although at a disadvantage, Notts managed to create chances with Marc Bola going close on two occasions from distance.
The breakthrough eventually arrived in the second half when Jorge Grant teed up Tootle, who lashed a superb finish past Benjamin Buchel.
Notts County's official website has put up the match highlights - see Tootle's goal for yourself, and also see whether Yeates deserved to be sent off.
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Joe Jones
Matt Tootle is optimist that a "strange season" for Notts County can end on a high note after moving 11 points clear of the League Two drop zone.
The Magpies put in an immense performance to claim a 1-0 win over Barnet at Meadow Lane on Sunday, Tootle scoring a second-half winner.
Kevin Nolan's charges were visibly exhausted at the end of the game, having been a man down for most of the game after Mark Yeates was sent off early on by referee Keith Stroud.
Tootle told the official Notts site: “I’ve scored a few in the league but that’s my first one in a while.
"It was a good first one for Notts and, the way the game went with us only having 10 men, I think it was a great time to get it. I was made up to get the goal.
"Driving here today I knew how important the three points were for us and I’m over the moon with how it’s gone.
“Of course we aren’t mathematically safe and, although teams down the bottom are struggling to win also, we aren’t resting on our laurels until we're fully safe.
"The gaffer has been really putting us through our paces in training. The work we are doing at the moment has set us up for the busy schedule - we are fitter than we were two months ago and I felt we looked like the team with 11 men at the end today.
“As a defender you want clean sheets and even today with ten men we looked really organised and strong as a unit. That’s testament to the gaffer coming in and doing the work with the lads.
“We want to finish as best as we can. If we can win another five or six this season, which we are more than capable of doing, we can end what has been a strange season on a high note."
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Joe Jones
Notts County's revival continues to gather pace as the League Two relegation zone is now 11 points away, thanks to the Magpies claiming a 1-0 win over Barnet on Sunday despite falling down to ten men early in the Meadow Lane encounter.
With just 11 minutes on the clock, Mark Yeates was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Ricardo Almeida Santos that referee Keith Stroud deemed worthy of a sending-off.
The Notts fans in the stands could have been forgiven for expecting the worst, but Kevin Nolan's charges did not let their numerical disadvantage get to them.
Barnet striker John Akinde then tried to win a penalty minutes later when he appeared to be hauled down by Notts goalkeeper Adam Collin, only to be booked for simulation.
The hosts managed to create chances with Marc Bola going close on two occasions from distance, and at the break, the deadlock had not yet been broken.
It would get better for the Magpies early in the second half as Jorge Grant teed up Matt Tootle, who lashed a superb finish past Benjamin Buchel for his first goal in black and white.
Barnet fought back in a bid to claim an equaliser and could have levelled when substitute Ruben Bover Izquierdo blazed over from eight yards.
With the game stretched, Grant could have got himself on the scoresheet when he raced onto a fine Shola Ameobi pass, but he curled wide, though ultimately it did not matter.
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Joe Jones
Notts County and Barnet have met each other just 16 times over the years.
The first fixture came on 1 November 1997, with the Magpies earning a 2-1 away win in Division Three, while the last fixture was on 26 November 2016, a 3-2 defeat at The Hive.
Notts have eight wins against the Bees, with five defeats and three draws.
The club was founded in Chipping Barnet, then part of Hertfordshire, in 1888.
Several incarnations of the club existed before the third Barnet FC, created after the First World War, came to be - this entity continues till today.
Barnet have won the Football Conference a record three times - in 1991, 2005, and 2015, as well as finishing second three other times.
Aside from a runners-up medal in the 1971-72 FA Trophy, their silverware cabinet is restricted to minor trophies.
A number of Barnet players have gone on to represent Premier League clubs. They include Dougie Freedman, Marlon King, Andy Clarke, Linvoy Primus, Maik Taylor, Mark Gower, Jason Puncheon, Yannick Bolasie and Albert Adomah.
Players who came to the club towards the end of their careers include Jimmy Greaves, Mark Lawrenson, David Hillier, Alan Pardew, Eddie Newton, Paul Warhurst, Steve Kabba, John Oster, Jonathan Fortune, Edgar Davids and Lee Cook.
Team news
Notts County will check on Jon Stead and Curtis Thompson ahead of the visit of Barnet.
Stead has been nursing a dead leg while midfielder Thompson has had a slight hamstring niggle.
The pair will be given as long as possible to make themselves available but French defender Thierry Audel may not make the matchday squad again, despite being fit.
Elliott Hewitt and Shola Ameobi were both introduced as substitutes fairly early on at Doncaster in midweek and might have done enough to earn starting places on Sunday.
Barnet manager Kevin Nugent has no new injury worries ahead of the trip.
Defender Elliot Johnson could be in contention to start after coming on as a late substitute for their 2-2 draw against Yeovil having recovered from injury while Sam Akinde is pushing for his first start for the Bees.
Centre-back Ricardo Santos looks set to remain sidelined with a knee problem, while Jamie Stephens, Josh Vickers, Jack Taylor, James Pearson, Michael Gash and Shaun Batt are all unavailable.
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Joe Jones
Notts County boss Kevin Nolan says he will not be monitoring Saturday's League Two results, insisting that the team will be responsible for its own destiny.
The Magpies are playing on Sunday this week, due to scheduling conflicts with regards to the team on the other side of the Trent.
It means some of County's relegation rivals have a chance to close the gap on Nolan's side, who are currently eight points above the bottom two,
Nolan, however, admits he will use the occasion to have some down time ahead of the Barnet fixture.
"I've got the family coming over, which is lovely. I haven't seen them for a couple of weeks because we've been working hard and been in every day," Nolan told the Nottingham Post.
"It will be a bit of down time with them, enjoying their company.
"It probably will be on in the background, but it's not about anybody else, it's just about us. That's what I've always said.
"It's us who is going to determine whether we stay in this league or we don't; no-one else.
"We don't want any favours from anyone. We've just got to make sure we continue to do our job.
"If we continue to do what we have been doing, we'll be okay."
He added: "Playing on a Sunday makes no difference to me, I don't know whether the lads feel a bit different.
"I much prefer a Saturday kick-off. I love a Saturday 3 o'clock kick-off. I think that's gone away from the game too much, with all these Sunday, Monday, Friday kick-offs.
"I won't be paying too much attention. It's about us. Even when the lads say after a game, 'they won' or 'they lost', I just say, 'it's got nothing to do with us'. We will decide our own fate."
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Joe Jones
Haydn Hollis has praised Notts County manager Kevin Nolan for giving him a lot of confidence and changing the mentality in the dressing room.
Since Nolan took over at Meadow Lane, alongside Alan Hardy's acquisition of the club, the Magpies have gone from League Two relegation certainties to being well in with a chance of staying up.
"Personally, he has given the squad a lot of confidence; he has given me a lot of confidence," Hollis told the Nottingham Post.
"He has said some good things about me in the press, which has been really nice and it makes me believe in myself. I'm sure he's done that with others.
"It's brilliant for me to hear and it makes me want to do well for him. I want to do it for myself as well.
"I was never low, but it's always nice when someone is good with you and believes in you.
"It makes you feel like you can do it. If someone believes in you then you're going to believe in yourself.
"He's just changed the mentality of the place. It was never a bad place to come to work. We're all lucky to be professional footballers, but it's a good place.
"You get up in the morning now and you look forward to coming to train because it's a good place. We have a laugh, but on the other side it's really serious as well.
"I think everyone is buying into what he believes. And that's the way forward, everyone has to buy into what he believes if we're going to be successful."
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Joe Jones
Jon Stead has revealed how close he was to leaving Notts County in the January transfer window because of how frustrating it was to be at Meadow Lane under the previous owners and manager.
Speculation had emerged linking the striker with a move to the United States as the Magpies were freefalling towards the bottom of League Two, John Sheridan in charge at the time.
However, Stead decided to stay put until at least the end of the season, when his contract expires, after Alan Hardy took over the club and Kevin Nolan was appointed manager.
"The way the season was progressing with the previous manager, he made it quite clear the players were all available to leave," Stead told the Nottingham Post.
"Things weren't going well and it was a frustrating place to be at, so I had to look at my future, given my contract is up at the end of the season.
"There's my age as well, which is something I don't like to talk about, but I will be 34 next month and I like to think I have a lot of football ahead of me.
"It would have been a big change because I've had 16-17 years of playing football in the UK.
"It's something that came up so I looked at it the same way as I would anything else.
"The appointment of Kevin changed my mind 100 percent. I spoke to him a couple of days after the Mansfield game and made him aware of the situation.
"We were in a transfer embargo at the time and he said he couldn't let me go. I understood the decision and the more I've seen of the gaffer and his staff, the more I like."
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Joe Jones
Alan Hardy has thanked Notts County's fans for getting behind the new owner and increasing the Meadow Lane gates by almost 70 percent since his arrival.
Writing in an exclusive column for the Nottingham Post, Hardy said: "Securing our Football League status has been my ultimate focus since assuming ownership at Notts County.
"But bringing the crowds back to Meadow Lane has been a huge, huge part of that objective.
"I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am that Kevin Nolan and the players have been gathering those precious points.
"And how delighted and humbled I am with the response from Notts County supporters and the whole of the public of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
"I'm informed that for the six home games since the takeover was completed, we have averaged 7,350 fans per fixture . A truly marvellous achievement.
"Compare this with the average crowd from August to January which was 4,380. That's an average of 2,790 extra fans per game - or, put another way, an increase of 68 per cent.
"Stand up Notts County fans and take a bow. You deserve it."
To read Alan Hardy's full column on the Nottingham Post, click here.
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Joe Jones
Notts County fell to an unfortunate and controversial 3-1 defeat at Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday night.
The visitors took the lead through Richard Duffy, but strikes from James Coppinger and John Marquis either side of the break put Donny in the lead.
Notts thought they had equalised when Haydn Hollis headed home in the second half, but the flag went up to rule the goal out, much to the bemusement of the travelling contingent.
Andy Williams then sealed the win by adding a third for the hosts in stoppage time as Notts sent goalkeeper Adam Collin forward.
The official Notts page on YouTube has posted the highlights - judge for yourself whether Hollis's disallowed header should have counted or not.
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Joe Jones
Notts County boss Kevin Nolan has hit out at the match officials in charge of Tuesday night's League Two fixture at Doncaster Rovers, which ended in a 3-1 defeat for the Magpies.
The visitors took the lead through Richard Duffy, but strikes from James Coppinger and John Marquis either side of the break put Donny in the lead.
Notts thought they had equalised when Haydn Hollis headed home in the second half, but the flag went up to rule the goal out, much to the bemusement of the travelling contingent.
Andy Williams added a third for the hosts in stoppage time as Notts sent goalkeeper Adam Collin forward, and Nolan was at a loss to explain why Hollis's goal was snuffed out.
"I still don't know why the goal wasn't given," he told the Nottingham Post. "It's the most disappointed I have been with the officials since I've been in management. I thought they were poor from start to finish.
"Why it was given for a free-kick I will never know. I've had a look at the video and I still don't see. I spoke to the referee briefly after the game and told him what I thought.
"It was disappointing because I thought the lads were fantastic."
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Joe Jones
Notts County have stumbled to an unfortunate 3-1 defeat at the hands of Doncaster Rovers in Tuesday night's League Two clash at the Keepmoat Stadium.
The Magpies took the lead in the 20th minute when Rovers failed to deal with a corner from the left and Richard Duffy reacted quickest to prod home from close range, his third goal of the campaign.
However, the hosts equalised just before the break through James Coppinger, who was on hand to rifle Matty Blair's low cross across Adam Collin and into the far corner of the Notts net.
And not long after the restart, Rovers were in the lead as Coppinger turned provider, whipping in a cross that Mathieu Baudry headed into the top corner.
Just after the hour, Kevin Nolan's charges thought they had equalised when a Michael O'Connor corner was nodded home by Haydn Hollis, but the flag was inexplicably up to snuff out the goal.
Notts launched everything they had in attack in second-half injury time as Collin went up for a corner, but Rovers managed to break and, with the goal unguarded, substitute Andy Williams guided the ball into an empty net to seal their win.
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Joe Jones
Notts County owner Alan Hardy has accused former manager John Sheridan and the League Managers Association of 'trying to run a coach and horses through the concept of respect in football' after appealing his dismissal for gross misconduct.
The 52-year-old was sacked by Hardy in January, just over three weeks after a verbal outburst at officials during the Magpies' 2-0 defeat by Wycombe Wanderers in mid-December, and the Notts owner admitted that Sheridan was let go due to gross misconduct rather than the side's poor form.
The Football Association handed out a five-match touchline ban and Hardy has hit out at both Sheridan - now managing at Oldham Athletic again - and the LMA for appealing his dismissal.
"I was astonished to receive notification from the LMA that Mr Sheridan has decided to appeal his dismissal," Hardy said in a statement released to Press Association Sport.
"We have sent back an extremely robust five page document re-affirming the transparent reasons behind our course of action.
"As well as being owner of Notts County, I am heavily involved in youth football, running a series of teams at Under 8s and Under 10s.
"Every week I see the influence that the professional game has on young boys and girls from as young as six years old.
"The conduct shown by Mr Sheridan towards the match officials in this instance was nothing short of scandalous. I am not prepared to tolerate any member of my staff abusing referees and officials in this manner.
"I fully appreciate that the League Managers Association have a duty of care to represent their membership.
"But surely even a professional body like the LMA realise they are being asked to defend the indefensible.
"Mr Sheridan clearly believes this 'industrial language' is used in everyday workplaces. Not in my place of work, it's not. And nor at my football club.
"The FA clearly felt that it was a case of the gravest nature.
"A five match touchline ban is one of the lengthiest and strongest punishments they have issued to any manager this season.
"For me, this is not just about John Sheridan, the LMA and Notts County.
"This case has much wider significance and repercussions for the English game as a whole.
"Over the past years, the FA have instigated a series of very admirable 'Respect' initiatives designed to improve conduct across the game.
"I'd think we'd all agree that excellent progress has been made but that much more clearly still needs to be done.
"Mr Sheridan and the LMA are effectively trying to run a coach and horses through the concept of respect in football. Potentially, they can set us back years if they continue to appeal the decision.
"Needless to say, we will be contesting any appeal by Mr Sheridan and the LMA, but I do genuinely think people should consider their actions very carefully before embarking on a course which may embarrass themselves in particular and the game of football in general."
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Joe Jones
Kevin Nolan has admitted that he is looking to get Notts County past the 50-point mark as quickly as possible.
With just 10 games to go this season, the Magpies sit on 40 points, eight ahead of the bottom two in League Two.
Nolan says he is taking it a game at a time, with a tricky visit to table-topping Doncaster Rovers awaiting on Tuesday night.
But with Notts back on form, the manager is taking the opportunity to draw up more of a mid-term goal.
"We have gone with the attitude that we will try to get to 50 points as quickly as possible and then we will reassess when we get there," he told the Nottingham Post.
"But what we are looking at right now is three points and the next game.
"My plan is just about Doncaster and what we can do to make sure we give our team the best chance of beating them.
"Everyone says 50 is the safe mark in football but you just never know in football."
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Joe Jones
Notts County have met Doncaster Rovers 55 times over the years, with the first fixture coming on the 13th December 1930. On that occasion, an FA Cup tie, the Magpies triumphed 1-0.
Doncaster hold the most slender of advantages in the head to head - we've won 23 times, lost 24 times, and drawn 8 times.
The club was founded in 1879 and turned professional in 1885. They have spent the majority of their playing history between the third and fourth tiers of the English football league system and are one of four clubs to win the Division 3/League Two title three times, the last being in 2004.
Football League rules state that any team who wins a trophy three times can keep it. However, when Rovers tried to retain ownership of the actual Third Division trophy, the Football League claimed that Rovers could not keep the trophy because the league names had changed from Fourth to Third Division, and so they had not won that particular league three times.
The team's mascot is a brown dog known as Donny Dog, who wears the red and white Rovers jersey.
Before a scheduled appearance during the game against Huddersfield Town at the Galpharm Stadium on 4 March 2006, police prevented Andrew Liney from entering the stadium in costume, citing unspecified "police intelligence", and refused him permission to wear any part of the costume within 50 metres of the stadium. Mr Liney later received a full written apology for these unfounded allegations from the head of West Yorkshire Police.
The mascot was next portrayed by Tracy Chandler and in June 2011, she was relieved from the position after she posed in her underwear for a Sunday newspaper. Later in the same week she was reinstated back as the club's mascot.
Arguably the club's most famous fan is One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson. The 25-year-old had agreed to play in a charity game at the Keepmoat several years ago to raise money for the Bluebell Wood Charity and was offered a deal by Donny to join the club on non-contract terms after impressing in the game.
Team news
Doncaster striker Liam Mandeville has suffered an injury setback and will play no part against Notts.
Mandeville had been hoping to return to the squad for Saturday's home win against Cheltenham after being ruled out since early February with an ankle injury, but strained a thigh in training on Friday.
Boss Darren Ferguson has no new injury or suspension problems and could be tempted to name the same starting line-up.
Midfielder Gary McSheffrey is likely to start on the bench again following his recent return from a long-term knee injury, while defender Joe Wright, Aaron Taylor-Sinclair and Lee McCullough (all knee) are still out.
Notts have captain Michael O'Connor available after serving a two-match ban but Magpies manager Kevin Nolan must decide if his skipper goes straight back into midfield.
Jon Stead and Curtis Thompson will need to prove their fitness after both players missed the home win over Hartlepool at the weekend.
Striker Stead has a dead leg while midfielder Thompson has a slight hamstring niggle.
Both will be given as long as possible to make themselves available but French defender Thierry Audel may not make the matchday squad again, despite being fit.
Carl Dickinson, Alan Smith and Adam Campbell are among the other options at Nolan's disposal should he make changes.
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Pride of Nottingham is an independent fansite devoted to Notts County, the world’s oldest professional football club. Created in 2013, it has served as a source of Magpie news, features, match previews, reports, analysis and interviews for more than three years.

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