So, as the mediocrity of Notts' start to the season slipped into the autumnal beginnings of September, we were still none the wiser as to what we should expect from the season. The promising performances of Carlisle and Tranmere were tempered by the weak surrender at Preston, whilst the late August sale of Craig Westcarr and failure to replace him left most fans concerned about the Magpies' ability to score goals. Step up a nineteen year-old Colombian on loan from West Ham.
Christian Montano had bagged his first Notts goal in defeat to Charlton, but it was as a substitute against Bournemouth at Meadow Lane that he really made his mark. Notts had taken the lead through Lee Hughes inside twenty seconds, but looked in trouble when Marc Pugh equalised for Lee Bradbury's side. Krystian Pearce headed Notts back in front though, before substitute Montano gathered the ball in the box, spun beautifully away from a defender and clipped the ball into the top corner.
This set us up nicely for Notts' first European tie of the season, a trip to Turin to face Juventus in the opening match at the Old Lady's new stadium. Some may have thought Martin Allen's side were only there to make up the numbers, but they were mistaken. The first half was only really noteable for Jude Stirling's foul mouthed tirade towards Alan Judge while taking a throw in, picked up in all it's sweary glory by the ESPN microphones. A soft penalty given for handball against Ricky Ravenhill gave Juve the chance to take the lead in the second half, but reserve goalkeeper Rob Burch almost made himself a hero by saving the kick - only for Luca Toni to tap home the rebound. With time running down, however, Notts won a free-kick and Lee Hughes turned the ball over the line courtesy of Haydn Hollis' far post touch to give us the most unlikely of draws in the home of one of the world's true footballing giants.
From footballing giants, then, to Walsall.They were the visitors to Meadow Lane just two days after the game in Turin, and in truth Notts looked weary and tired but were still able to force three points. Lee Hughes scored an absolute screamer of a volley from the edge of the box to give Notts the lead, Andy Butler headed in an equaliser before Montano came off the bench again to run onto a Neal Bishop pass and crash the ball into the far corner. Alongside our Italian adventure and Montano's emergence, there was one another noteable story from September - the resurgence of Ben Burgess. The target man, whose knees are held together by a complex structure of string and paper clips, had seemed out on his ear after a horrendous performance ended in injury at Hinckley United in pre-season, but he returned to good effect against Bournemouth and bagged his first goal for the club in a midweek 1-1 draw at Exeter City, cancelling out an early Alan Sheehan own goal.
Next up was a trip to Stevenage, divisional new boys who were already annoying people with their particularly attritional style under Graham Westley. Notts found no problems in Hertfordshire though and won 2-0 thanks to goals from Lee Hughes and Burgess, despite a slow start at Broadhall Way. September was rounded off with a comfortable 2-0 win over Rochdale at Meadow Lane, Hughes scoring again and another reborn transfer listee in Sam Sodje. This left the Magpies third in the league and dreaming of a special season. Then came October.