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Joe Jones
Notts County have claimed a much-needed three points in a 2-0 win over Stevenage in Saturday's League Two encounter at Meadow Lane.
Jorge Grant came off the bench to open the scoring on 77 minutes, with Shola Ameobi adding a second three minutes later to make sure of victory.
The opening stages of the game brought about opportunities for both sides as Luke Amos bundled the ball into the side netting and Ben Hall sent an effort over the Boro bar.
Ben Kennedy and John Goddard then tested Adam Collin with tentative chances, while at the other end Elliott Hewitt headed over from Terry Hawkridge's delivery.
Neither side could find the breakthrough by the half-time mark, despite Jonathan Smith's shot which went wide, another Goddard effort, and Jon Stead volleying off target from Matt Tootle's cross.
The second half brought about more incisive play from Notts as Stead, Hawkridge and Carl Dickinson weighed in with chances.
Smith then spurned a good opportunity for Stevenage when he was well placed in front of goal but sent a volley straight at Collin, while at the other end Hawkridge's over-hit cross had to be palmed over by Tom King.
Finally the breakthrough came 13 minutes from the end as Grant struck a superb volley into the bottom corner of the net after Stevenage had struggled to deal with Richard Duffy's ball into the box.
And three minutes later came the clincher as Ameobi bravely prodded in a header from Hall, getting a knock for his troubles although he was fine to continue.
The result sees the Magpies climb to fourth in the table and narrow the gap between themselves and third-placed Wycombe Wanderers to one point, though the top three all have a game in hand.
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Joe Jones
Alan Hardy has paid tribute to the Notts County fans for getting behind the team even during the leaner spells and insists the fanbase has a huge role to play in the latter stages of the season.
The Magpies spent a good chunk of the season in the automatic promotion places, even holding top spot for a number of weeks.
However, County's form has tailed off in 2018, with four defeats, two draws and just three wins from the nine league games this calendar year.
This has sent Notts - previously boasting a sizeable cushion into the automatics - tumbling down into the playoff places, with eighth-placed Lincoln City now just five points behind.
Hardy addressed this in his latest Nottingham Post column and, as well as praising the "magnificent backing" given by the Black and White Army, he also spoke of the need for the team players and coaches to get in "cup finals" mode.
"I am of the firm belief the fans have a huge role to play in the remainder of the campaign, especially in our home games," Hardy wrote.
"The backing we have had this season has been truly magnificent and there have been times when it has been so powerful, it has helped us overcome extraordinary odds.
"An example came in our home match against Cambridge when we were 3-0 down. Instead of becoming silent, anxious and greeting mistakes with groans, the fans roared with defiance.
"The noise levels grew and you could see the confidence flooding into the players. It gave them belief that, despite the deficit, they could still fight back to get a result.
"They did just that by securing a 3-3 draw when defeat looked inevitable. It was a prime example of the fans playing the role of 12th man.
"Our supporters travel up and down the country at great expense because of their love for their wonderful football club.
"We can harness that backing for the last 12 games of the season as we continue to chase down those sides above us.
"Hopefully we will begin our ‘cup finals’ with a bang against Stevenage on Saturday, a team who are sitting comfortably in mid-table with neither relegation or promotion looking a likely prospect.
"That makes them dangerous because they can come here to Meadow Lane without pressure, meaning we will have to be on our guard.
"As the manager has pointed out, we are striving to reach our form from earlier in the season when we were incredibly difficult to beat as we soared towards the top of the league.
"I know Kevin, his staff and the players are working tirelessly to lead us out of what has been an indifferent run, but it was never going to be a season without a tricky period.
"I am convinced we will come through it with more experience and more understanding of what is required should we encounter such a spell again.
"A third consecutive home win would certainly be the perfect tonic and, with a crazy fixture schedule now behind us, we can drive forward, giving it our best shot from now until the end of the season."
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Joe Jones
Head to head
Notts County and Stevenage have only ever met 12 times in competitive fixtures.
The first meeting was on 17 September 2011 at Broadhall Way (known as the Lamex Stadium) - the result on that day was 2-0 to the Magpies.
Our head-to-head record is five wins for Notts, five for Stevenage, and two draws.
The Magpies have won one of their last four home league games against Stevenage, drawing one and losing two.
Stevenage, meanwhile, have won one of their last six league games against Notts County.
History
Stevenage in their current form have only been in existence since 1976, but there have been numerous incarnations of the club that stretch back over a century.
A club called Stevenage FC was formed in 1894, but they soon adopted the name Stevenage Town.
In 1951 the club were founder members of the Delphian League. In 1956 they merged with Stevenage Rangers to form Stevenage FC, before reverting to Stevenage Town four years later.
They had some success in the Southern League but folded in 1967, after which Stevenage Athletic were created in their place a year later. This incarnation again knocked about in the Southern League but went bankrupt in 1976.
Stevenage Borough, formed shortly after Athletic's demise, managed to prosper and work their way up the leagues until finally reaching the Football League in 2010, at which point they took the whole thing full circle by dropping the Borough from their name and becoming Stevenage FC.
Despite their relatively short history, Stevenage have won a number of trophies and competitions, including two FA Trophy cups in 2007 and 2009.
Trivia
Broadhall Way holds 6,722 people, 3,142 of which can be seated. To put it into perspective, three full houses at Stevenage could fit into the Meadow Lane stands with 45 seats to spare.
The highest attendance recorded at the stadium was 8,040 for a match against Newcastle United in the FA Cup fourth round on 25 January 1998.
On that day a temporary stand was erected behind the away end to increase the stadium capacity to 8,100, enough to satisfy FA requirements.
Two films were set in and around Stevenage: "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" and "Boston Kickout".
"Spy Game", meanwhile, was partly filmed in Stevenage but set in Washington DC.
A number of famous sporting figures were born in Stevenage, the most notable of which are Lewis Hamilton, Jack Wilshere, Ashley Young, Ian Poulter, Kevin Phillips and Jason Shackell.
Team news
Kevin Nolan's got pretty much a clean bill of health, save for long-term absentee Michael O'Connor who is nonetheless back in training.
The Magpies are looking to bounce back from the midweek defeat to Cambridge United and Nolan wants more players to chip in with goals to aid top scorer Jorge Grant.
Grant has scored 17 times in 43 games since joining on loan from city rivals Nottingham Forest, but has found the net just once in 2018.
Stevenage boss Darren Sarll will hope to have Matt Godden and Ron Henry available again for the trip to Meadow Lane.
Both players missed last week's 4-1 win over Yeovil Town but will be given as long as possible to prove their fitness.
Sarll has been boosted by the return to training of Chris Whelpdale and Ben Sheaf following lengthy injury lay-offs.
Whelpdale has not played since the end of December and Sheaf since earlier the same month, but both are targeting a place in the squad.
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PON_News
In January and February, Juventus consolidated second place in Serie A and reached the Italian Cup semi-finals. After beating Genoa 2-0 in the last 16, the Bianconeri went on to face city rivals Torino in the quarter-finals.
On December 23rd, a big Serie A match took place between Juve and Roma, where we won 1-0 - winner scored by former Roma player Medhi Benatia - then we won 3-1 over Verona. In the quarterfinals Juve beat Torino 2-0 and progressed to the semi-final against Atalanta.
Continuing the way in the league, the Bianconeri won 1-0 against  Cagliari in a hard-fought match, 1-0 with Genoa and 2-0 with Chievo Verona.
In the first leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal, Juventus has the best in Atalanta's home: 1-0 for us with the return game to be played on February 28th.
Then a record-breaking match: in the league Juventus beat Sassuolo 7-0, with goals from Alex Sandro, Miralem Pjanic, Sami Khedira's double and Gonzalo Higuaín's hat-trick.
Then on February 9th we obtained three very important points, winning 2-0 against Fiorentina.
Finally, on February 13th the Champions League returned, playing against Tottenham at the Allianz Stadium: after an initial Juventus lead of 2 goals (double by Pipita Higuaìn), we were pegged back by Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen in a match that finished 2-2.
It was a pity to draw in a game that we were on our way to winning, but now our guys are going to put it all in the challenge back to Wembley, which will be played on March 7th.
Last week we played the Derby della Mole in the league, at  Torino's football stadium, where we won 1-0 thanks to a precious goal from Alex Sandro.
Juventus continue to be second in the Serie A standings just a point behind Napoli, who continue to win and are making this an exciting title race.
January and February were somewhat unlucky months - we lost a lot of players due to injury, starting with Paulo Dybala, injured against Cagliari, but now the Argentine is back on the pitch.
Even our captain, Gianluigi Buffon, who recently turned 40, is back on the pitch. Juan Cuadrado, however, has been injured for more than a month with a groin problem and is still out but is about to return, as are Mario Mandzukic and Blaise Matuidi.
Against Torino, there were two injured players: Higuain and Federico Bernardeschi. The former, a less serious ankle problem with a week's layoff. The latter a slightly more serious problem: he  will be out for a few weeks and is at risk for the Champions League return challenge.
Marko Pjaca, fully recovered at the end of December, was loaned to German team Schalke 04 until the end of the season, for 1.5 million euro.
Juve are believed to still be monitoring Emre Can - at the beginning of January it was almost certain that the German midfielder should have arrived in June for about 4.5 million, but other clubs have been linked to the player, even if our club will not give up.
It seems set for Dennis Praet of Sampdoria to join Juve 25 million, but the player will remain in Genoa until June and then could pass to the black and whites.
Juve continue the Juventus Women project: our girls are very strong, so far they have played 14 games (between Championship and Italian Cup) and have won them all!
Our Under 21 guys have left the Italian Cup and the Champions League, but they are in the running for the Championship. Meanwhile, a few days ago, the documentary about Juventus and the life of our players outside the field came out on Netflix.
Juventus must now take care against Tottenham and put it all to pass the Champions League quarters, and stay competitive for the championship and Italian Cup! Now the hard part of the season is starting!
Thank you to Leo from Daje Juve for this article. Follow them on Instagram by clicking here.
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Joe Jones
Sol Campbell has claimed that clubs are afraid to appoint "one of the greatest minds in football" after he was overlooked for the Oxford United job.
The former England defender - who made one appearance for Notts County during the Munto season - held talks with the U's, who have just recently been taken over by Thai businessman Sumrith Thanakarnjanasuth.
However, the League One side are thought to consider former Liverpool, Newcastle United and Wales forward Craig Bellamy as their frontrunner for the reins.
"I did go (for the Oxford job) and they didn't accept me," Campbell told the Arsenal podcast Highbury & Heels.
"Maybe it was a lack of experience, things like that, but it's a full circle. Experience? How do I get experience? Well, I need a job to get experience.
"I don't want to go too low that it's a struggle, and I don't want to go too low that I'm under someone and thinking 'what am I doing here?' I would rather be managing a club myself.
"I'm confident and it's not like it's rocket science to run a football club, especially when you get to that level.
"If you're intelligent enough and a quick learner you will learn pretty soon, within two or three games, what the team needs, training-wise, to survive in that league, get better in that league, to get in the play-offs or even win the league.
"I'm intelligent enough, it's not like I played on a fox and dog pitch all my life. I can't believe some people, I'm one of the greatest minds in football and I'm being wasted because of a lack of experience or 'maybe he talks his mind too much'.
"Go to Germany, they love people who speak their minds. They got the jobs. I'm sorry that I've got a mind, but don't be scared of that. That should be something you want at your club, but obviously not."
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Joe Jones
Kevin Nolan has stressed that he did not expect Notts County's season to be all plain sailing but is confident the team will get out of the rut they're currently in.
The Magpies spent a good chunk of the season in the automatic promotion places, even holding top spot for a number of weeks.
However, County's form has tailed off in 2018, with four defeats, two draws and just three wins from the nine league games this calendar year.
This has sent Notts - previously boasting a sizeable cushion into the automatics - tumbling down into the playoff places, with eighth-placed Lincoln City now just five points behind.
“I was under no illusion that we were going to go through a tough time this season,” Nolan told the Nottingham Post.
“I always said we were going to hit a bump in the road and it’s getting a bit bigger and bigger.
“But, listen, we have got to get ourselves out of it - and we will.
“Looking at the lads, I believe that they believe they are going to get out of it, and hopefully that starts on Saturday.
“Then we can look to start building from there. But, as I said, you don’t go from being poor to being top-notch in an instant.
“We’ve just got to get back to being where we were six weeks ago.”
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Joe Jones
EFL clubs have voted in favour of shutting the summer transfer window for permanent transfers on August 9.
The deadline will now be at 5pm on the Thursday after the opening round of EFL fixtures.
However, clubs in the Football League will still be able to loan players and register any that are made free agents up until August 31.
The decision brings the 72 clubs in line with the Premier League, who voted in favour of closing the window before their season starts last September.
Of the teams from the Championship, League One and League Two, 40 voted in favour of the change while 29 went against.
There were no abstentions and the remaining three clubs instead sent their apologies.
EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey said in a statement: "After discussing the options throughout the course of the last few months, I'm pleased that the matter has been determined by clubs ahead of the start of next season.
"This new approach will give clubs and managers the stability they crave earlier in the season whilst also providing the flexibility to add to their squads after the traditional deadline until the end of month if required."
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Joe Jones
Kevin Nolan has admitted that Jorge Grant is getting frustrated due to his downturn in form but stresses that Notts County can't just rely on him all the time.
The 23-year-old has scored 17 goals this season but only one has come this calendar year, which has coincided with the Magpies also stumbling in League Two.
Nolan has addressed Grant's form in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's meeting with Stevenage but wants each player to take full responsibility.
“Jorge has played a lot of games and he is getting a little bit frustrated because he is not in a rich vein of scoring form,” Nolan told the Nottingham Post.
“But it’s not just down to Jorge. We can’t just look to him to get us out of it all the time.
“It has to be a collective responsibility and there are too many of us who are under par week in, week out.
“That’s why we are getting these inconsistencies. You can afford to have two or three, but when you are at seven or eight, then it’s not good enough for us.
“We have to find the right solutions as quickly as possible. Once we do I am sure we will get that confidence high and you will see the best of the boys again.”
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Joe Jones
What's been happening in League Two over the last week?
Here is Pride of Nottingham's round-up of the biggest League Two news from the last seven days.
- The proposal to close the EFL's summer window early will be voted on by all 72 teams from the three divisions at Villa Park on Thursday. The proposal is for the window to close at 5pm on August 9. The loan window would stay open until August 31.
- Phil Brown, former manager of Derby County, Hull City, Preston North End and Southend United, has reportedly turned down the opportunity to take the reins at Grimsby Town. The 58-year-old is without a club, having ended a near five-year stay at Southend when he was put on gardening leave on 17 January.
- Dover Athletic have signed defender Kevin Lokko from Stevenage on loan until the end of the season. The 22-year-old has made only two substitute appearances for Boro, after joining them from Maidstone for an undisclosed fee last August, and spent much of this season on loan at Dagenham & Redbridge, making 25 appearances before being recalled earlier this month.
- Yeovil Town have signed former Notts County goalkeeper Stuart Nelson until the end of the season. The 36-year-old left Gillingham by mutual consent on 31 January after making more than 220 appearances for them.
- Newport County defender David Pipe has had his contract extended for another season after triggering an appearance clause in his current deal. The 34-year old has been rewarded with the extension having already played 35 games this season.
- Also at Newport, defender Jazzi Barnum-Bobb had his contract cancelled by mutual consent. The 22-year-old has made over 40 appearances for the Exiles.
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Joe Jones
Notts County have suffered another huge blow in their automatic promotion hopes as Cambridge United ran out 1-0 winners in their League Two clash at the Abbey Stadium.
Medy Elito scored the winner for the hosts in the 30th minute to continue their good form since the departure of manager Shaun Derry with a third win in a row, while for Notts it's a fourth league defeat in 2018.
What was the reaction to the match from Kevin Nolan and from the Black and White Army? Pride of Nottingham takes a closer look.
Kevin Nolan
"I'm deeply disappointed because I thought we were starting to get back to where we were and I feel we have come away from that today.
"There wasn't much in the game but we didn't deal with Uche Ikpeazu well at all tonight. We looked at their strengths and we didn't deal with any of them and we didn't do anything to exploit their weaknesses.
"I have said to the lads we have another quick turnaround and another big game on Saturday where we have to get three points."
The Black & White Army (PON forum and social media)
Northants Pie: I think we should just settle for the mid table finish that we are hurtling towards. Dissapointing given our start to the season but we were found out around the end of November and have only managed to get worse since. This squad nearly got relegated for a reason, we need another relatively large scale squad change in the summer to ensure we get a more dynamic defense and a more dynamic front line.
Chris: It's disappointing because you can see that they don't have the fight anymore, fans are telling the passion is gone and I'm seeing a lot of comments which fall inside with this feeling. I don't care where we finish, provided we fight. Nile Ranger would ruin us and all our progress, but we need someone up top.It's hard, but we lost one nil to a team that by the stats played much better. Oh well.
Alex West: Nolan needs to seriously look at himself in the mirror. Disgusting performance not even one shot on target. Well finish bottom half at this rate not alone the play offs. Seriously bottling it
Stephen Jeffery: Bubble has well and truly burst, nice while it lasted but league 2 football is best we can offer, dream on Alan if you think championship
Martin Smith: What do you think Nolan will say. The lads weren't up for it tonight thought we played better second half etc. Ffs 4 4 2 Nolan us fans do know a bit about football. I know we've come a long way and building for the future but come on do our players know what a goal looks like after tonight's stats. Saying all this I will be there in Saturday hoping for a better performance and a goal or two. Coyps
Martyn Malone: PISSED OFF BIG TIME 😡😡😡 This is what happens when you don't get players in the transfer window not just that something is not right players don't just stop playing like Notts have over the last 7 weeks if it's not sorted asap mid table then no playoffs for HARDY like he wants
Adrian Wheatley: Grant poor again think he needs a rest for a bit playing like hes not interested at the end of the day he will hi tail over the river at the end of the season. Play our players who have it all to play for
Mike Adams: 4 shots on target and no goals in the last 3 away league games-players arguing with players, players arguing with manager and players arguing with fans-talk to someone who was at Barnet or Cambridge if you want to know what’s happening at this club
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Joe Jones
Kevin Nolan has urged the Notts County players to "stand up and be counted" over the coming weeks as the League Two campaign enters its latter stages.
The Magpies' form has taken a downturn in recent weeks, the last eight league games yielding four defeats and just two wins.
On Tuesday night, Notts fell to a 1-0 defeat at Cambridge United which saw their hopes of automatic promotion take another huge blow.
“They are not used to losing games so regularly all season,” Nolan told the Nottingham Post.
“Before the turn of the year we had only lost three whereas we’ve now lost four since the start of January.
“They are bound to be feeling the pressure when that starts happening because people start griping.
“People start having a go and it’s about being able to stand up and be counted.
“I will stand up and be counted because I’ve been through this in my career and hopefully I will help them come through it and be better people and players for it.
“It’s down to me to help take the pressure off and we are doing that week in, week out, day in, day out to switch them away from league tables etc.
“We just need to concentrate on us. It doesn’t matter what happens in February, it’s what happens in April and May.
“That’s when the real pressure comes. Hopefully we’ve had it and when it comes round again in April and May we will be ready and more experienced for it.
“We are a team in transition with lots of new players who have only joined me in July.
“They have done fantastically well and I am not taking that away from them or making an excuse, because I believe where they are is because they are good enough.
“At the minute they are just finding it a bit tough, but we all have to stick together to make sure we get back to where we were as quickly as possible.”
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Joe Jones
Mark Hateley has spoken of how his father, Notts County legend Tony Hateley, was instrumental in immersing him in the world of football, and how the 56-year-old made sure to do the same with son Tom, now also a professional footballer.
The Hateley dynasty of pro players stretches three generations, with Tony impressing at a number of clubs besides Notts, including Aston Villa and Liverpool, where he remains just as loved as he is at Meadow Lane.
Son Mark, meanwhile, won 32 caps for England and scored plenty of goals for the likes of AC Milan, Monaco, Rangers, Queens Park Rangers, Portsmouth and Coventry City.
Now, Tom is currently enjoying a career as a pro footballer, having enjoyed stints at Motherwell and Dundee, plus a spell in Poland with Slask Wroclaw.
“My dad would take me into the dressing rooms and all that sort of stuff before and after games, and took me to watch games,” Mark told Herald Scotland.
“He had me in and around the training ground too, watching the attitudes of players, and I tried to do the same with Tom, and made sure he was aware of what was happening.
“I thought it would be good for him to see the reaction of players after winning and losing, and basically making him comfortable in that environment, just as I had become comfortable in it through my father.
 “The standards I saw through my dad stuck with me throughout my whole career. It stands you in such good stead. I saw grown men fighting in training, the half-time punch-ups and all that stuff. You see situations after games and how much it means to people.
“It’s beyond a game of football, it introduces the grown-up world. That’s where I had an advantage, because I had experienced all of that before I got to the stage of being an apprentice or a professional football. Tom had the same experience.”
For the full interview on Herald Scotland, click here.
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Joe Jones
Kevin Nolan says he is "deeply disappointed" with Notts County's 1-0 loss at Cambridge United and believes his players are lacking confidence in the final third.
Medy Elito's goal on the half-hour mark condemned the Magpies to defeat at the Abbey Stadium, which dealt yet another blow to their fading automatic promotion hopes.
Nolan is however hopeful that Notts can get back on track when they face Stevenage at Meadow Lane on Saturday.
"I'm deeply disappointed because I thought we were starting to get back to where we were and I feel we have come away from that today," Nolan told the official Notts site.
"There wasn't much in the game but we didn't deal with Uche Ikpeazu well at all tonight. We looked at their strengths and we didn't deal with any of them and we didn't do anything to exploit their weaknesses.
"I have said to the lads we have another quick turnaround and another big game on Saturday where we have to get three points.
"I can't put my finger on (why we're not scoring) but we will be working hard over the next 72 hours to make sure we are ready for Stevenage on Saturday.
"There's a lack of confidence to try something in the final third for a lot of them.
"With the quality we have across the frontline we have to start breaking teams down much more than we are.
"I believe it won't take us long to get back to where we were this time last week after a positive result against Carlisle."
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Joe Jones
Notts County's promotion hopes have taken another blow as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Cambridge United in Tuesday night's League Two encounter at the Abbey Stadium.
The Magpies were comprehensively outplayed in the first half by a side that had won two on the bounce under caretaker manager Joe Dunne, having dispended with ex-Notts boss Shaun Derry's services two weeks ago.
Cambridge were bright from the off and went close in the opening stages of the game as Liam O’Neil’s 20-yard effort sailed wide before Uche Ikpeazu’s low attempt was just the wrong side of the near post.
The closest that Notts came to a goal in the first period came when Liam Noble’s attempted lob on 26 minutes went over the U's crossbar.
Dunne's charges went on to take the lead on the half-hour mark when Jevani Brown's shot took a deflection and ran through to Medy Elito, who took a touch past goalkeeper Adam Collin before firing home.
Billy Waters' shot from the edge of the box was then parried wide by Collin, before Brad Halliday surged forward on the right and forced the Notts custodian into a save with his feet.
Moments before half-time Elito struck an ambitious effort from distance which went only narrowly wide, the whistle effectively putting the visitors out of their misery for 15 minutes.
The restart saw more of the same as O'Neil headed over following Uche Ikpeazu's cross from the byline, but Notts began asserting themselves a little more in search of an equaliser.
That would never come, however, as Cambridge continued to boss the action in search of a second goal, which looked likelier to come for then than it would have for Kevin Nolan's side.
Eventually the final whistle blew on a narrow but overall comfortable win for the hosts, who claim their third win on the trot.
Notts, meanwhilw, are forced to once again lick their wounds and go back to the drawing board as their hopes of promotion continue to slip from their fingers.
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Joe Jones
We're edging towards the end of February and Notts County's forward problems continue following the backfiring of our January gamble.
Bringing Mason Bennett in on loan seemed a great idea at the time, given he's a highly rated and clearly talented footballer, very much admired by most fans of his parent club Derby.
Unfortunately, Bennett is also injury prone, something which plenty of Rams fans I spoke to mentioned in sighing tones - were it not for his injury issues, he would probably be an established first-team despite his young age.
And he showed his quality on his Notts debut against Crewe, getting the final goal in a superb 4-1 win, but then, the harsh reality of his injury record kicked in as he had to be taken off early on against Barnet with a hamstring problem, on which he has needed an operation.
It's a bad situation for all three parties - Bennett is injured and must now go through the healing and rehabilitation process, Derby will be gutted to see one of their most talented youngsters suffer another setback, and Notts are back to square one in terms of their striker conundrum.
So we have Shola Ameobi and Jon Stead, who simply haven't got the legs to do 90 minutes week in week out (sometimes twice a week); Jonathan Forte, who remains overlooked by Nolan and, if we're being especially critical, hasn't had the same impact as a starter as he does off the bench; Lewis Alessandra, who hasn't got the quality in front of goal and finishing touch of a centre-forward; Callum Saunders, who is too raw and inexperienced to be thrown in at the deep end now; and Alan Smith, the footballing equivalent of using a plaster to fix an amputation.
With the transfer window now closed and the emergency loan system very kindly phased out by the suits up top, that leaves us having to root through the dumpster that is the free agent market in order to find somebody.
Maybe that's a little harsh - after all, Shola Ameobi was snapped up last February after the transfer window closed, but Ameobi has always been a model professional who was unsure whether to hang up his boots until former teammate Nolan persuaded him to link up with Notts, and his attitude at the club has been superb ever since signing on the dotted line.
This year, the free agent market is noticeably less impressive, and a name that Nolan has mentioned in terms of prospective signings should ring alarm bells among all the fans.
Nile Ranger. The talented, prodigious forward who could now be leading the line for Newcastle United, and perhaps England, but who instead finds himself without a club after being dismissed by Southend United due to "reoccurring disciplinary issues".
Now, I'm very much one who believes in second chances in any walk of life, and if an individual is genuinely remorseful and shows proper contrition, they should be given another shot instead of being thrown onto the scrap heap, which as a society we are quick to do.
Ranger has been given numerous chances by clubs in hope that he could have knuckled down and delivered as per his talent, but every time, it's simply not happened, hence why a player who should be gracing the higher leagues now finds himself without a club.
Even if we discount the multiple charges he's had over the last 10 years, some of which have resulted in convictions (the latest just last year for online banking fraud, which resulted in him being tagged and not being able to play evening games due to a curfew), there's also the general attitude issues.
Do Notts really want a player who has celebrated a goal by using his boot to mimic a machine gun, or whose timekeeping and disciplinary issues led to his latest club cancelling a contract midway through the season despite having committed to 2020 just a year earlier?
And yes, Alan Hardy did confirm on Twitter today that Ranger "was on a list, along with several others, but none of those are being pursued", which seemingly puts paid to that speculation, but let's not forget how Liam Noble wasn't "being pursued" either.
So no. Personally I would not like to see Ranger signed by Notts, where he could risk disrupting the dressing room and potentially making the wrong headlines, which by proxy means Notts will make the wrong headlines, before an unceremonious mid-season cutting of ties further down the line.
And aside from that, there's got to be a level of principle in the club. And I would personally rather see Notts not get a reinforcement and run the risk of not getting promoted than giving a chance to a player who's spurned far too many over the years.
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