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Mark Cooper has claimed that Forest Green Rovers deserved to get something out of their game against Notts County despite a "terrible" first half. The Magpies ran out 2-1 winners over the Green Devils at the New Lawn on Saturday, taking the lead through Liam Noble after the visitors pounced on a defensive mistake. Although Tahvon Campbell grabbed an equaliser for the hosts, Matt Tootle had the final say when he slugged the ball through a crowd of bodies and into the back of the net. “The first half was a non-event, we didn’t start well so the only complaint I can have today was that the first half was terrible,” former Notts boss Cooper told the official FGR site. “We didn’t play with any tempo, that obviously wasn’t coached that was just us being pedestrian, not asking questions of Notts County at the back, of their defence, and we just let them play themselves into the game and get a goal. “Wishart dribbled in the box and gave it straight to their centre forward and it ricocheted and they tapped it in. “I thought in the second-half we were brilliant, I thought we had a right go. All I said at half time was go and have a go and we deserved to get something out of the game. “We should defend better and with the experience we’ve got in the side, we should get something. We didn’t produce that final telling pass in the final third which we’d have liked to. “We dominated the second half but we have to make sure we get at least a point as I a point would have been a good result for us. It was a chance to test ourselves against a top three and see how far away we are and in the second half we showed we’re not far.” 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 with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

Kevin Nolan has stressed that Notts County must respect a Forest Green Rovers side who can "beat anyone on their day" ahead of their League Two encounter this weekend. The Magpies travel to The New Lawn on Saturday to face a FGR outfit that have won their last five home outings and moved seven points clear of the relegation zone. "Forest Green have been fantastic at home since the turn of the year and can beat anyone on their day," Nolan told the official Notts site of the opposition, managed by former boss Mark Cooper. "We're well aware that we have to go there, respect them and earn a result. "Mark has recruited really well and has done a fantastic job getting them up last year and making it seem so simple to stay in the league this year. "They are a strong side and play good football with two fantastic strikers in Christian Doidge and Reuben Reid so it won't be an easy one. "But if we turn up and do what we need to do we can come away with another positive result." 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 with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

Haydn Hollis has joined Forest Green Rovers after having his Notts County contract terminated to facilitate his move to the New Lawn. The 25-year-old, who progressed through the Magpies academy system before making his debut in 2012, made 137 appearances for the club and scored eight times. However, Hollis slipped down the pecking order this season, being restricted to appearances in the EFL Cup and EFL Trophy, and has now opted to join Mark Cooper's League Two side to get first-team football. Kevin Nolan told the official Notts site on Hollis's departure:"I would like to wish Haydn all the best in his new venture. "Even though his first-team opportunities have been limited this season due to the fine form of Richard Duffy, Shaun Brisley and also Elliott Hewitt, his attitude in training and around the club has been first class. "I'm confident he will go on to have an excellent end to the season and career. I'm gutted to lose him but it was in his best interests to move on and play football." Hollis, meanwhile, said: "It was really hard for me to leave after nine great years but the time has come to move on in my career. "I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone connected with the club every success in the future." 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 with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

Forest Green Rovers manager Mark Cooper has denied that he feels let down by Liam Noble's return to Notts County. The 26-year-old departed the newly promoted League Two club earlier this week, citing a desire to move nearer his family in the North East. As it turned out, Noble was then pictured training with the Magpies and, on Thursday afternoon, Notts announced that their former player was now on their books again. The summer saw a tug of war between Notts and FGR over Noble, with a fee of £100,000 bandied about, only for the midfielder to pen a new three-year contract at the New Lawn. Now Kevin Nolan’s side have got their man for nothing, but Cooper says he feels no animosity towards the former Sunderland man. “Liam had a medical condition which he said meant he had to be near his family in the North East,” he told BBC Radio Gloucester. “We have a duty of care and we decided to help Liam out with that. Because of the medical issue and the need to be around his young family, we decided to let him go. “I don’t feel let down, football is football. He’s moved on and we’ve signed a really good midfielder in Isiah Osbourne. “Liam will take his time. He can’t play for them until January. Let’s see how he does, he’s got to get in their team first. “Once Liam had demanded to move to the North East and his heart wasn’t in playing for us, we ripped the contract up. "He had a three year contract, so we’ve saved three years worth of money.” 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 with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

Unattached midfielder Liam Noble is training with Notts County, according to a report. The 26-year-old's Forest Green Rovers contract was cancelled by mutual consent on Tuesday with the club citing his desire to be closer to his family in the North-East of England. Noble's departure from Nailsworth has led to much debate among Magpies fans over whether the player should return to Meadow Lane. A source at the club's training ground has sent us two pictures of what appears to be Noble in training alongside the Notts players. Noble is presumed to be the man in the centre of the pictures, standing next to the free kick mannequin. This season's training kits appear visible in the photos. Noble was subject of a number of bids from Notts over the summer which went up to £100,000, which were rejected by the New Lawn outfit and led to a war of words between the clubs' chairmen. The maverick midfielder can only sign for a Football League club in the new year, but is currently free to sign for National League clubs not restricted by the rules of the transfer window. 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 with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

Liam Noble has departed Forest Green Rovers because he wants to move closer to his family in the North-East of England, the club have confirmed. The 26-year-old, previously on the books of Notts County, was club captain at the Gloucestershire outfit last season as they won promotion to League Two. He made 11 appearances in all competitions this season, but has not featured for Mark Cooper's side since the loss to Swindon on September 22. "Liam has family in the North East that he needs to be with, and we understand that," Cooper told the official FGR site. "His efforts and hard work on the pitch are recognised and appreciated by both the club and the fans. We wish him the best of luck." Noble told the club website: "Thank you to the chairman and manager for supporting me through this difficult decision. "The fans have made my time at the club special - thanks to them." Noble, who hails from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, signed a new contract with Rovers until 2020 as recently as July, after he was the subject of bids from Notts. 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 with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

Former Notts County manager Mark Cooper has claimed that the chairman at the time of his managerial tenure at Meadow Lane "made it difficult" for him. The 48-year-old had been hired by Notts in March 2016 to try and arrest an alarming slide down the League Two table. Cooper, who famously operated under an undisclosed points target while at Meadow Lane, managed to secure safety for the Magpies in the end. However, he departed the club as the final whistle blew on their final game of the 2015-16 season, a 5-0 defeat to Carlisle United, and subsequently joined then-Conference side Forest Green Rovers. With the Gloucestershire-based club now in the Football League and preparing to take on Notts this weekend, Cooper spoke of how he enjoyed his time in Nottingham, but had a dig at the previous chairman. “I really enjoyed my time there, it’s a cracking club,” he told the FGR website. “It’s the oldest club in the Football League, they are nice people there with a great stadium and when there’s a few fans in, they really get it rocking. “I really enjoyed it but it’s just unfortunate that the chairman made it difficult at the time.” Cooper also echoed Kevin Nolan's sentiments in claiming that FGR have everything to win and nothing to lose when they take on the division's top side. He continued: “We’re going to a team that are top of the league, there’s going to be a massive crowd and have had a brilliant start under Kevin and they'll fancy themselves to continue that. “They had a bit of a hiccup on Saturday in the derby but there's no pressure on us. Nobody expects us to go there and get anything. We are certainly going to go and have a go and try to play and see what happens.” 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 with hundreds of fellow Notts County fans. Fancy showcasing your brand or business on Pride of Nottingham? Click here to find out more about sponsorship and advertising opportunities with us.

Transfer sagas are usually the domain of clubs in the upper echelons of the football pyramid. Virtually all the players currently in the middle of the annual soap opera currently play for one top team and are rumoured to desire a move to another top team. Will David de Gea move to Real Madrid? Will Diego Costa return to Atletico Madrid? And so on and so on. It's basically the sort of cliche love triangle storyline you get in your typical soap opera / reality TV show, but adapted to the beautiful game. But a similar "love triangle" is now taking place in the slightly less glamorous surroundings of League Two, and the three parties involved are Liam Noble, current squeeze Forest Green Rovers, and the ex, Notts County. So the soap opera storyline is as follows: Noble was a bit of a bad boy back in the day, let Notts down on multiple occasions due to his disciplinary record, and so he was turfed out, clothes metaphorically chucked out the window and all that. Noble then winds up at Forest Green, where former Magpies manager Mark Cooper - who had previously said the midfielder would not be allowed anywhere near Meadow Lane following one red card incident - was now at the helm. And lo and behold, Noble gets his act together, weighs in with a modest seven goals and a gargantuan 21 assists, winds up becoming captain, and helps get FGR promoted. Oh, and his prior Achilles heel was no longer a problem - just eight yellow cards all season. Now, you'd think a player whose career has been revived thanks to this club, and in turn has helped said club get into the Football League, would be buzzing from a personal and also a team perspective, and would be raring to go in League Two next season, maybe even show the ex what it's missing when it comes to the relevant matchdays. But here comes the twist: Notts have tried to get Noble back, and Noble is reportedly eager to return to Meadow Lane - and FGR are having none of it, with Cooper publicly admitting the club had turned the initial bids for him down. And of course, all this is being played out in front of the public. The Notts fanbase is still split over the prospect of Noble returning. The Remain (at FGR) camp says ex-players should never return to pastures old, or haven't forgiven his previous indiscretions on the pitch, maybe even worrying whether he might return to the red card habits of old, while the Leave camp thinks his spell at FGR has changed him and he would be a much improved player this time round. So what's PON's opinion on this? Well, Noble's had a barnstorming season, his goal tally is decent enough and his assist tally is amazing, and it looks like he's managed to get his act together on the disciplinary level. But the point that sticks is the reported transfer fee - £100,000. Which in League Two / non-league, is frankly too high. For that amount of money, you would expect a player to be unanimously accepted by the fanbase as a player that, in terms of how proven and reliable he will be, is as close to "guaranteed" as you can get. And let's face it, even though he's had a great season, fans cannot be blamed for having doubts over his temperament and whether he would be the same player under Kevin Nolan as he was under Cooper, as well as the fact that League Two is markedly more difficult than the National League, and faced with tougher opposition, frustration may set in again - and we all know how that turned out. So it's a gamble, a big big gamble, and at £100k, a risky one too. Surely for that amount of money we can get one or even two quality players who come with no prior baggage at Meadow Lane? Just our opinion here, but whether this saga rumbles on well into August (or a future transfer window) or it comes to a tangible conclusion either in the form of a contract extension at FGR or the player standing in front of the cameras at the Lane holding a shirt with his name on the back and talking about how he's got unfinished business and wants to prove himself with this second chance bla bla bla... it's one that will continue to keep the Notts faithful talking. Share your thoughts on this feature article by signing up for free to the Pride of Nottingham forum and joining in the conversation.