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Kevin Nolan has hailed Notts County's great character, spirit and togetherness as they claimed another three points in a 2-1 win over Hartlepool United. The Magpies went two goals up through Shola Ameobi - who had earlier missed a penalty - and Jorge Grant, while Haydn Hollis's unfortunate own goal proved not to make a difference to the points haul in the end. Nolan told the official Notts site: "The lads showed great character, great spirit, great togetherness - everything you want when you’re down at the bottom. I’m proud and delighted for them. "I thought we dominated, but when we missed the penalty it got a bit jittery. It was just about calming them down at half-time and getting them to think clearly again." The manager also singled Grant out for praise after bagging his fourth goal in seven appearances, a ferocious curling strike from outside the box which sailed into the top of the Pools net. Nolan went on: "Jorge has been fantastic. The lad's delighted be to here. I'm delighted to have him. Hopefully we keep him for a bit longer. "We'd definitely like to have him beyond the end of the season. He should be playing week in, week out. "When he gets that football he blossoms and then he can move up. Hopefully we're the club that gives him that chance to blossom. "It was a first class strike. I'm delighted for him." Share your thoughts about this news story on Pride of Nottingham by signing up to the website, visiting the forum and joining in the chat.

Notts County and Hartlepool United have met 32 times over the years. The first meeting was on 21 September 1959 at Victoria Park, and the Magpies won 4-2. We've played them twice this season so far - the League Two meeting on 20 August and a FL Trophy tie 11 days later, which we both won 2-1. The head-to-head record stands at 15 wins for Notts, 12 defeats, and 5 draws, and we have won each of the last four meetings. 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. Team news Notts County boss Kevin Nolan is considering handing himself a debut against fellow Hartlepool United on Saturday. The former Bolton, Newcastle and West Ham midfielder has yet to play since taking over at Meadow Lane in January but is weighing up the possibility after the 3-0 defeat at Stevenage. With captain Michael O'Connor still suspended, Nolan could come into the middle of the park while another change might see Richard Duffy restored in defence after he was left on the bench on his return from a ban last weekend. Matt Tootle, Carl Dickinson, Alan Smith and Jonathan Forte are also options for Nolan. Hartlepool boss Dave Jones is set to recall midfielder Nicky Deverdics from his loan spell at Dover amid an injury crisis. Jones has a series of players suffering from niggles and knocks with full-back Sean Kavanagh having returned to parent club Fulham this week for an assessment of the hamstring problem he sustained in the 3-1 victory over Exeter last Saturday. Striker Billy Paynter remains on the sidelines as he undergoes a course of injections he hopes will mean he does not have to have surgery to address a persistent Achilles problem. Full-back Carl Magnay is edging his way back from a serious knee injury, but keeper Trevor Carson and central defender Rob Jones are still out. Share your thoughts about this match preview on Pride of Nottingham by signing up to the website, visiting the forum and joining in the chat.

Kevin Nolan has urged his Notts County charges to put last week's 3-0 defeat at Stevenage behind them, think about how far the team has come in the last 10 games, and focus on "another big game" this Saturday. The Magpies saw their five-match unbeaten run come to a halt at the Lamex Stadium last week with the heavy loss in Hertfordshire, cutting the gap between them and the bottom two to five points. However, the manager is hopeful that Notts can bounce straight back when they host Hartlepool tomorrow. "We had a fantastic run previous to the result last weekend, and it just shows how far we've come," Nolan told the Nottingham Post. "Go back 10 games to when I first walked in we'd just gained a point after the first weekend and gone into the bottom two, and we were looking up at a lot of teams who weren't around us. "It looked like a three or four-way scrap, but what we've managed to do in that time is bring a lot of teams around us into the scrap. "We've got a cushion at the minute, but we knew we weren't safe. I kept telling you, and you didn't believe me. "It's going to be a battle and every game is going to be tough, because every game in this league is tough. "One bad result last week has not changed my mind. The positives out of it all was that we went five games unbeaten and that's what we've got to try and achieve again. "The lads are working hard, they are buying into it. It was unfortunate we didn't reach our standards last week, but it wasn't all bad. "At 3-0 it looks as if it's terrible, but we had a spell in the first half when we could've clawed a goal back and that would have changed the whole sense of the game. "But it wasn't to be and we've got to take it on the chin, and we go again. "It's another big game now because it's a home game. We've been fantastic at home since I've come through the door. "I'm sure Hartlepool are going to come here and show us respect and we'll show them respect, but hopefully we're going to do enough to claim all three points." Share your thoughts about this news story on Pride of Nottingham by signing up for FREE to the website, visiting the forum and joining the chat.