It's nail-biting times in the Football League this weekend as the Play-Offs get underway, and there are a number of former Magpies aiming to avoid suffering Play-Off heartbreak in their guest for glory.

And we take a look at which former Magpies are in action in the Playoffs, which get underway this weekend with the carrot of promotion still dangling for a number of clubs aiming to join those who have already gained automatic promotion to their respective Leagues above.

In the Championship Watford and Hull City go head-to-head this weekend, while the other semi-final sees Crystal Palace and Bristol City battle it out for a place in the Playoff Final and the right to play in the promised land of the Premier League next season.

Hull's squad, which has performed superbly to obtain a top-three berth this term, contains one former Magpie in Nathan Doyle, a young midfielder who spent three months on loan with us from Derby County during the 2005/06 season who made twelve appearances in total in our colours.

Doyle, a former England Youth International, has only featured for Hull three times this season - with his last outing coming from the bench in the Tigers' 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace in April.

Palace are of course managed by our former Manager Neil Warnock, who has more experience of play-offs than most. He guided us to two successive victories with us in 1990 and 1991 to take us from the old Third Division to the old First Division.

Warnock boasts just one former Magpies player in his squad in the form of midfielder Shaun Derry, who began his career at Meadow Lane back in 1995 after bursting through the youth ranks and into the first-team under Colin Murphy and Steve Thompson. Derry has made over 400 career appearances and has played an instrumental role in Palace's phenomenal rise up the table under Warnock since joining from Leeds in November.

In League One this weekend Southend United and Doncaster Rovers go head-to-head with one former Magpie in each of their squads. Southend's frontline contains striker James Walker, who had a brief spell on loan with us last season from Charlton Athletic. He has scored four times in fifteen appearances for the Blues, while with us last term he failed to find the net in eight outings - of which six were from the bench.

Doncaster meanwhile will be looking for some inspiration from of our former frontman Paul Heffernan this weekend as they aim to shrug off the disappointment of missing out on automatic promotion last weekend. He has hit five goals in his last ten appearances, and could hold the key to Doncaster's chances of success.

The other semi-final sees Leeds and Carlisle clash in a mouth-watering double-header, with our popular and hardworking former midfielder Andy Hughes the only player with Magpies connections in that tie. He joined Leeds from Norwich last summer; and will be best remembered at Meadow Lane for his terrific work ethic and desire which helped guide the Magpies towards the Third Division Title in 1997/98.

In League Two Stockport and Wycombe will battle it out to take on either Rochdale or Darlington in the Playoff Final. Stockport are managed by Jim Gannon, an Irishman who had a two-game loan spell with us back in 1994 under Mick Walker's leadership. Standing in Stockport's way are the Chairboys, who have two ex-Notts men in their squad in the form of Stefan Oakes and Chris Palmer - both of whom featured against the Magpies in the penultimate game of the season last month.

Rochdale and Darlington have one ex-Notts player apiece in their squads. Simon Ramsden of Rochdale spent a season on loan with us from Sunderland back in 2002/03, while Alan White was with us for the majority of last season under Steve Thompson where he captained the side prior to a loan move to Peterborough United in March 2007.

We wish all our former players well this weekend.

Remember supporters have up until 31 May to take advantage of the early-purchase discount on Season Tickets for the 2008/09 season. Tickets are on sale for Magpies fans the Kop Stand for the first time, with Adult tickets working out at JUST £10.87 per game! Under 12's again go free in all stands - and Season Tickets are on sale now!!! Click here for more information.