Notts County have signed a striker on a permanent deal and two players on loan as Lewis Knight, Kenton Richardson and Mark Ellis join the Magpies promotion push with Ellis spending the rest of the season at Meadow Lane and Richardson initially at least staying until April 5^th.

Knight, who has been at Bradford Park Avenue joins on a 2 and a half year deal having scored eleven goals in fifteen appearances for the West Yorkshire side although he will be cup tied for the FA Trophy semi-final against Hornchurch.

32-year-old centre back Ellis is currently parented by Tranmere Rovers and has spent the majority of his career in League Two with third tier experience in England whilst at the likes of Crewe Alexandra and Shrewsbury Town.

Durham born Richardson, 21 joined Sunderland on a two year deal in 2020 after breaking through at Hartlepool United whom he played over 50 times for and like Ellis will be used as cover for the injuries to Ben Turner, Richard Brindley, Damien McCrory and Tyler Golden.

Notts Manager Neal Ardley who has been actively looking to boost his squad depth said of Ellis “We had a few younger lads who we quite liked on our list but we did a bit more digging, found out Mark was available and moved quickly.”

“In the centre back position, I think adding someone of Mark’s experience was vital. With the run-in we’ve got, we needed to know what we were going to get and that’s why Mark was our first choice over several of the younger boys we looked at.”

Whilst on full-back Richardson he said “We did our homework on right backs three weeks ago before signing Tylor Golden.

“At that time, Kenton was on our list but he’d had an injury when he first joined Sunderland and had only had one 90-minute game since.

“That was a concern to us but since then he’s come through another three 90-minute games. Those doubts we had over his fitness have gone out of the window a little bit, so his case became a lot stronger.

“He’s a big, strong, powerful, athletic lad and we’re delighted to have him.”

Unlike striker Knight, both defensive players will be eligible for the Buildbase FA Trophy semi-final against Hornchurch with all three available for tonight’s game against Halifax Town.

*Main image @Official_NCFC Lewis Knight signs for Notts County from Bradford PA.