After the excellent mid-week Carling Cup win over Bradford in mid-week, the question on every travelling fans' (all 1169 of them) lips was regarding whether Notts could continue the form they showed at Valley Parade, or would we see a return to the early league form, that had seen us lying at the wrong end of the table.
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Mills made one change to the side that defeated Bradford. On-loan Aston Villa stopper Wayne Henderson was recalled, after being unavailable in mid-week, and Saul Deeney dropped to the bench. Club captain Mike Whitlow also made
the bench as he continues to recover from a knee injury.
Former Lincoln striker Gavin Gordon was unable to play against his old club as he failed to recover from an ankle injury in time.
Notts, buoyed by an extremely noisy travelling contingent, started reasonably well- but it was Lincoln who had the first real chance. With 17 minutes on the clock, a long throw from the left was flicked on and City striker Simon Yeo struck his shot well, but it was straight at Henderson, who did well to hold the powerful shot.
Notts hit back just two minutes later, though, when the lively Matty Williams struck a curling shot from just outside the area that narrowly escaped Alan Marriot's left hand post.
The Magpies continued to pressure the hosts, without actually creating much, that was until the 26th minute when a moment of magic from Williams allowed Notts to grab the lead.
The former Man Utd striker skipped past the gigantic Lincoln defender, Ben Futcher, with a brilliant piece of skill that took him into the penalty area. He then cut the ball back to the on-rushing Paul Bolland (in the opposition's area?!) who beat Marriot but not the right-hand post, before SCULLY was left with the simple task of knocking the ball into the unguarded net.
The game was now being played at a faster pace, but when Lincoln did get near Henderson's goal, the immense defensive partnership of Richardson & Baudet were usually alert to the danger.
Glynn Hurst then came close for the Magpies with a snapshot on the turn that Marriot did well to gather at the second attempt from the onrushing Williams.
Hurst, though, really should have doubled the visitors lead in the 42nd minute. The chance was brought about by a brilliant sweeping move involving Matty Gill, Williams and David Pipe, who cut the ball back to an unmarked Hurst- only for the former Chesterfield striker to scuff his shot horribly wide.
As the half time whistle went, the travelling supporters, in good voice throughout, couldn't have been happier with what they had saw and rightly gave their side a well-deserved ovation as they left the field of play.
Half time: Lincoln City 0-1 Notts County
Lincoln, no doubt buoyed by a half-time bollocking from Keith Alexander, started the second half slightly better then they had been in the first half and set about looking for the equaliser.
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A minute later, though, and Lincoln should have equalised. The Imps' top scorer, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, was clean through on goal but was denied by a quite wonderful save by the excellent Henderson. Francis Green then fired the rebound narrowly over the bar.
The home side were left to rue the miss just seven minutes later, as SCULLY fired home his and Notts' second of the game.
The Irish winger, surely one of the most naturally talented players in this Division, picked up the ball on the left, played a one-two with Hurst, turned the ball onto his supposed weaker left foot and riffled an unstoppable 18-yard shot past Marriot and into the top corner.
It was a quite brilliant goal by Scully, and it sent the travelling supporters into delerium. Did I mention how good Notts' supporters were?
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The Magpies were rampant, and the (quiet) Lincoln supporters didn't like it one bit. More than one teenage burberry-clad moron who thought it was a good idea to take on 1169 Magpie supporters was escorted from the ground before the end.
In the meantime, Wayne Henderson had suffered a bang on the hip coming for a cross and had to be replaced by fellow Irish stopper Saul Deeney. Henderson now looks certain to miss tomorrow's visit of Oxford.
Rob Ullathorne blazed a free kick into the arms of Marriot, before Yeo- a transfer target for Mills in the summer- missed a sitter when he put a shot wide when clean through. Thank God we missed out on him.
Deeney made an excellent stop from the 8'8 Ben Futcher, before Scully, then Williams came close for the Magpies.
Hero of the day Scully was then withdrawn for the last 10 minutes, presumably to give him a rest ahead of Monday's encounter, with Kelvin Wilson replacing him.
Shaun Harrad was brought on in the 87th minute in place of Hurst, who worked his socks off upfront and deserves to keep his place tomorrow.
Lincoln finally did manage to register on the scoreboard in the 89th minute, when Deeney dropped a difficult cross at the feet of PEARSON who riffled his shot home via a deflection of Richardson.
Although this made the four minutes of stoppage time slightly more nerve-wracking for the Magpies faithful, the result was never really in doubt and Notts finally picked up their well-deserved first three points of the season.
Full time: Lincoln City 1-2 NOTTS COUNTY
A much improved performance, and a much improved week for Notts County. Mills' and the players relief at getting the monkey off the back was there for all to see at the end, and left supporters, so negative a week ago, going home dreaming of promotion.
Bring on the Oxford!
Match ratings to follow.