NottsGeezerCal

This is an article basically to give a shout out to one of Notts County's most consistent performers who doesn’t get much praise on here. When he first arrived here I wrote him off as being too small and lightweight for the physicality of the national league but how wrong could I be? What he lacks in size he more than makes up in passion and fight. Dion never shies away from a battle and stands up to players much bigger than him. He flies into tackles winning the ball and making sure the opposition player knows he’s there. DKE always puts his body on the line for the cause. He knocks the ball around nicely too as part of starting our moves out from the back, something we do well as team – each player plays their part in a lot of the goals we score as a team. Last season he had a success rate of 58.06% in offensive duels. 65% successful dribbles. 75.80% pass success. So going forward he is a great carrier of the ball – which although he doesn’t get a great deal of assists he still plays a part in our transition from defence to attack. Let’s talk about the main part of his role in the team defending – he does well at standing players up and stopping crossers coming in our box. I do find it bizarre that he ends up marking the biggest players for set pieces such as Chesterfield's Denton but most of the time he does somehow manage to get the better of them. This season he has taken his opportunity with both hands, he has almost reached his minutes from last term in only 14 games into the campaign and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in with a shout for player of the season come the end of the campaign. The fact he can play on either side of the pitch is another welcome bonus. He’s a player that embodies what Neal Ardley typically looks for, a player comfortable with the ball, a player that can play in more than one position/system, a player that will scrap for the cause. At 24 he has plenty of time to grow and hopefully reach higher levels in the football pyramid, hopefully with us. What more do I want to see from DKE? Maybe chip in with a goal/assist or two. I’d to see him just have a go, take a shot every now and then, you never know what might happen.

Haydn Hollis is a name that divides opinion amongst Notts fans. The centre-back is a 6ft3, athletically built product of our youth system, who oozes professionalism and is an all-round nice guy. Ever since breaking into the first team Hollis has shown signs of becoming a great strong solid lower-league centre back but the inconsistency and the bad spells he goes through have split the fan base's opinion of him. He played a great part in the great escape of 2013/14 and for the first half of the 2014/15 - Hollis and a combination of Haydn Mullins / Louis Laing was excellent. Hollis was producing the best form of his Notts career but the return of Mullins, plus Laing leaving, led to a poor ending of the season and resulted in relegation. Then we had the "we'll score one more goal than them" approach of Ricardo Moniz which destroyed the defence and in turn made Hollis a scapegoat for the poor results which followed until the end of the season. Under John Sheridan, Hollis lost just about every bit of confidence he had and his performances on the pitch suffered because of it. Ever since Kevin Nolan arrived Hollis has been reborn, rebuilt, he’s sticking to what he knows - head it, boot it away, win the tackles, simple passes and been an attacking threat from set pieces. The harshest Hollis critics can’t say that he hasn’t deserved his place in the starting line up. Nolan has worked wonders with the squad, players like Hollis just needed a bit of confidence, praise and guidance. You can’t fault Hollis’ commitment and attitude, even slotting in at left-back for one game. The partnership between Hollis and Duffy it may not be the strongest but together they know their roles and with each game that passes by the signs of a solid foundation for next season are starting to appear. I’m not saying Hollis is going to be the best defender in League Two, he’s still prone to the odd mistake here and there such as against Crewe on Friday but if he wasn’t he would be further up the footballing pyramid - but he is starting to show signs of maturity for a 24 year old defender who has played 140 games, 128 of them for Notts chipping in with 7 goals for us. I hope Nolan and Hardy do offer Hollis, Richard Duffy and Thierry Audel new deals. Yes, they have their flaws and yes, we will need another proven centre-back to offer competition and take over should any of the three mentioned let their standards slip. Should Hollis continue improving and learning from the mistakes he makes along the way, there’s no reason why he won’t earn a new deal and extend his five-year spell in and around the first team. Love him or loathe him, he is one of our own, let’s start treating him like that. Now is the time for Haydn to reach the potential he has have, prove the doubters wrong and show us he can be consistent and deserves to be in this team for next season. Haydn Hollis, he’s one of our own... Share your thoughts about this feature article on Haydn Hollis on Pride of Nottingham by signing up to the website, visiting the forum and joining in the chat with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans.