Notts County V Hartlepool at Meadow Lane : Match Preview

11 April 2016 12:34
Notts County V Hartlepool - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


As you were for Notts County against Hartlepool

Notts County manager Mark Cooper expects to have an unchanged squad for the visit of Hartlepool.

It was thought that Curtis Thompson might return to contention after missing the home win against Stevenage at the weekend through injury but Cooper said at his pre-match press conference on Monday that the midfielder will remain sidelined.

Blair Adams (ankle) and Will Hayhurst (knee) both remain out and are unlikely to play again this season.

After a first victory in charge on Saturday - the the Magpies first win in 11 League Two outings - Cooper could name an unchanged starting line-up.

Craig Hignett is expected to make a number of changes to his line-up after Hartlepool's Football League status was confirmed on Saturday.

Pools went goal crazy at Morecambe - claiming a 5-2 victory - and are now 16th in Sky Bet League Two, have lost just once in their last nine matches and are 18 points ahead of second-bottom York.

That means Hignett will use the remaining games to utilise his squad with a view to next season and the likes of defenders Dan Jones, Scott Harrison and Michael Duckworth, midfielders Josh Laurent and Brad Walker and striker Rakish Bingham could get a run-out.

"I can experiment now and see what works and what doesn't. I'll probably change it and have a look at different people, I might change the system, I might not," said Hignett, who is monitoring the fitness of top scorer Billy Paynter (hamstring) and defensive duo Matthew Bates (thigh) and Jake Carroll (head).


Source: PAR