Magpies receive double boost

Notts boss Gary Mills, ahead of tomorrow's visit to Bradford City in the Carling Cup, has been given much-needed good news after it was revealed that Chrissy Palmer and Stef Oakes - both of whom are yet to turn-out for the Magpies this season - could be on the comeback trail much sooner than expected after it is said that the pair have both made 'fantastic' progress.

Palmer - who was crocked in the final friendly of a, let it be said, needlessly hectic pre-season calendar - injured three ligaments in his ankle against Nottingham Forest in behind-closed-doors action days before the new campaign was due to kick-off and hence has yet to make his full debut for the Magpies after his summer switch from Derby. But, after visiting a specialist in Oxford, further analysis of the injury has unveiled that the 20-year old winger should return withing the new two-to-three weeks.

Oakes (left), on the other hand, fell victim to a groin injury in another pre-season game in the latter stages of pre-season, this time at home to Coventry, and has also yet to feature. The pin-point passing and creative flair of the former Leicester man, who was one of the earlier of GM's crop of new blood back in February, have been sorely missed, as shown when Notts fell to their second successive defeat against Yeovil on Saturday.

Mills told the Nottingham Evening Post: "We had feared that they would both be out for a long time.

"From what we have seen in the past few days, we could have both of them back in three weeks.

"That is a little way off yet, but it is better than we had hoped for."

Unfortunately, however, the same cannot be said for Gavin Gordon, who faces a probable losing battle to win his fitness for tomorrow's clash with the Bantams. The 25-year old ex-Cardiff man, who netted his first goal for the Magpies on Saturday, picked up a nasty looking ankle injury in the Yeovil clash and may well miss the Carling Cup game after he limped out of the action in the second-half at the weekend.

Club Captain Mike Whitlow, however, is expected to return, although a question mark does still hang over him after he missed the last three games due to a knee injury.