NEAL Bishop already hopes Steve Cotterill is his boss beyond this season.

The Magpies midfielder is loving playing under Cotterill, who has been given a deal until the end of the current campaign.

Bishop believes he has made the Notts players even more determined to win promotion in League Two.

"He has come in and given us an extra edge," he said. "He's a winner and he wants winners with him. He's not going to settle for second-best.

"He's exactly what we need and I'm loving playing under him, and so are the rest of the lads."

Notts have won their first three games under Cotterill, ahead of tonight's big derby against Chesterfield.

"He (Cotterill) has got an edge to him. He had a few choice words with us at half-time at Accrington," added Bishop. "It's hard to go there and play football but we could have done better in the first half.

"We went out and gave him a good response in the second half.

"It's great to have him on board and hopefully it will be for longer than this season."

Bishop has also joked he is not going to disagree with his new boss.

Cotterill jokingly called the tough-tackling midfielder 'soft', after he came off in his first game in charge against Hereford United with an ankle injury.

"I'm not going to argue with him, he seems like a tough guy!" smiled Bishop.

"I've had a few knocks but, with the squad we have got, a few of us will have to carry knocks into games.

"If you can't do that when you're playing for promotion there is something wrong with you. I want to play in the big games and put myself on the line."