Stat Attack: Hartlepool United vs. Notts County, Saturday 20 August 2016

Notts County and Hartlepool United have met 30 times over the years.

The first meeting was on 21 September 1959 at Victoria Park, and the Magpies won 4-2.

The head-to-head record stands at 13 wins for Notts, 12 defeats, and 5 draws.

In 1905, the amateur team West Hartlepool won the FA Amateur Cup which at the time was considered second only to the FA Cup. Partly as a result of this the opportunity for a professional team arose in 1908, when West Hartlepool Rugby Club went bust leaving their stadium Victoria Ground vacant.

The stadium was bought and the current club was founded under the name ‘Hartlepools United Football Athletic Company’, representing both the town of West Hartlepool and the original settlement of Old Hartlepool.

The new team joined the professional North-Eastern league and West Hartlepool F.C. lost some of their players to the new professional side. West Hartlepool managed to continue for a few seasons, but it was not long before they broke up leaving Hartlepools United as the only team in town.

In 1968 the "s" and the "United" were dropped from the team name of "Hartlepools United". This was in connection with West Hartlepool being absorbed along with the old smaller town of Hartlepool and the village of Hart into one new borough named "Hartlepool". The appendage of "United" was finally restored in 1977.

Brian Clough was invited to manage Hartlepools in 1965. His reaction was: "I don't fancy the place," but he took the job anyway and stayed for two seasons alongside Peter Taylor.

Under Cyril Knowles' management the club won promotion to the Third Division in 1990, but Hartlepool's greatest moment occurred in 2005 when they narrowly missed promotion to The Championship.

According to local folklore, the term “Monkey Hangers”, which Hartlepudlians are sometimes called, originates from an incident in which a monkey was hanged in the town.

During the Napoleonic Wars, a French ship of the type chasse marée was wrecked off the coast of Hartlepool. The only survivor was a monkey, allegedly wearing a French uniform to provide amusement for the crew.

On finding the monkey, some locals decided to hold an impromptu trial on the beach; since the monkey was unable to answer their questions and because they had seen neither a monkey nor a Frenchman before, they concluded that the monkey was in fact a French spy. Being found guilty the animal was duly sentenced to death and hanged on the beach.

An alternative theory is put forward alongside the above on the "This Is Hartlepool" town guide, stating: "Then there are some who point to a much darker interpretation of the yarn. They say that the creature that was hanged might not have been a monkey at all; it could have been a young boy. After all, the term powder-monkey was commonly used in those times for the children employed on warships to prime the cannon with gunpowder."

In the 2002 council election, the team's mascot "H'Angus the Monkey", aka Stuart Drummond, was elected mayor of Hartlepool as an independent, under the slogan "free bananas for schoolchildren".

In recent years the most visible fan of the club has been Jeff Stelling, presenter of Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports. The rock star Meat Loaf, Janick Gers of the metal band Iron Maiden, MP Peter Mandelson, and film director Ridley Scott are also fans of the club.

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Rob Jones could return to the Hartlepool squad for the Notts County game after he missed Tuesday's 3-3 draw at Crewe Alexandra with a head injury.

Pools boss Hignett otherwise has no fresh selection concerns with Jake Orrell continuing to work his way back to full fitness after suffering a thigh problem in pre-season.

Notts boss John Sheridan has an unchanged squad as he looks to secure a first win of the season.

He made just one change against his former club Plymouth Argyle in midweek - handing a start to Louis Laing at the expense of Haydn Hollis, who was left out of the match-day 18.

Few, if any, changes are likely but the likes of Alan Smith, Genaro Snijders, Vadaine Oliver, Adam Campbell and Graham Burke are options.

Curtis Thompson (ankle) is not quite ready to return from injury but has been stepping up his training, while Rob Milsom is doing likewise as he also recovers from an ankle problem.

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