Nott to be missed – Thompson sets his sights on Valley Parade

It was his seventh in the league this season – only one less than his tally in two years with the Bantams.

Thompson’s current tally includes a first ever hat-trick during a particularly hot streak of six goals in six games.

For City, he was seen as a right winger who could occasionally fill in up front when James Hanson needed a breather.

When he returns to Valley Parade on Sunday, Thompson is likely to be playing in the centre forward role he prefers.

“It’s something I feel confident in doing,” he said. “I started off on the wing but then we had an injury to our striker so the gaffer put me up front.

“I could have been in double figures by now but it was brilliant to get my first hat-trick. I’ve had five or six braces in my career but never gone on.

“From my point of view, it’s good the gaffer sees me as someone who can play in different roles.

“At this stage of my career, it’s about playing games as often as you can.

“Having scored a few goals, my preferred position is up front and I know I have the capacity to play down the middle.

“I thought I did quite well there when I played that role at Bradford. But there was tough competition with Nahki (Wells) and Hans.

“Then Jon Stead came in as well as Aaron Mclean so it was always going to be difficult to get a run of games.

“But this season, we’ve had a few injuries so I’ve had that extended run.”

Thompson is relishing his position as one of the senior hands in a Notts dressing room that was completely revamped after last season’s close scrape to beat the drop.

Gary Jones, of course, followed him from the Bantams as boss Shaun Derry looked to blend established hardened pros with the crop of youngsters coming through.

Thompson added: “At this point last season we had 11 points from the same amount of games. Now we’re 20 points better off – that’s six wins and two draws.

“But that’s down to Shaun Derry and Greg (Abbott). They’ve certainly given me that belief and restored my confidence.

“It does hurt when you get released from somewhere but as soon as I met those two and heard how they wanted to do things, I was really keen to be part of it.

“We’ve stuttered a bit of late but we are still doing really well in the league – and we’re undefeated away so we must be doing something right.

“We’ve had some strange decisions going against us, like Gaz getting sent off against Yeovil. That was rightly rescinded but it didn’t help on the day when we went down to ten men.

“But we’re still up there, which is testament to getting the right people in the building.

“As you saw at Bradford, team spirit and work ethic can go a long way. We’ve obviously got the experience of the lads who’ve played in the Premier League and Championship as well as some good young lads.

“There are no egos in the group. Nobody is thinking they are better than anyone else and everything seems to fit so far.”

Thompson’s late show – at about the same time Scunthorpe were spoiling City’s day – preserved the country’s only unbeaten away record as they head towards Valley Parade at the weekend.

It is a date that has been ringed in the Thompson household since he signed for Notts.

He said: “It was the first game I looked for. Gaz stays at mine a couple of nights a week and we both can’t wait – it’s the stand-out fixture for us.

“We had some great times there and memories that you will never forget. To achieve what we did was very special and will never be repeated.

“I’ve had some really nice tweets from Bradford fans this season wishing me well. The other day it was two years on from the Arsenal game and I got some really nice messages about that.

“I’ve still got a lot of friends at Bradford and always look out for how they are doing. It’s great that the fans appreciate what we did and I’m really grateful to those who send me stuff.

“It’s going to be a special day and coming over the Christmas period, I hope the crowd will be even bigger than usual. It’s a day my family are excited about.”