EVERYONE was talking about the 'Beast from the East' after this. Not the nasty Siberian snow storm set to hit Britain this week though, but a friendly one, Notts County's giant goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski, from Poland.
He was the Magpies' hero in a goalless draw against Yeovil Town and if there is a better goalkeeper in League One, I haven't seen him.
There can be few, if any, better than Bialkowski, however. A goalkeeper clearly flourishing on finally being given his chance to be a No.1 at Notts, after six frustrating seasons at Southampton.
The 6ft 4in Pole has actually now made exactly the same number of league starts this season for the Magpies as he did for the Saints, 21, which is all rather appropriate because his performance at Huish Park ensured his new club extended their record unbeaten away run to 21 games.
Without him, it would have been all over. Bialkowski kept Yeovil at bay almost single-handedly in the second half, with super save after super save.
He made four big saves in the space of 16 minutes, in fact, to stop the Glovers inflicting a first away defeat on Notts since February.
Twice, he denied Yeovil midfielder Ed Upson.
The first time was on 50 minutes. Upson fired in a powerful shot from 20 yards that flew through a crowd of bodies in the penalty area and Bialkowski leapt full stretch to his left to parry it away brilliantly.
The second time was on 66 minutes. This time Upson swept purposefully into the box from the left and drove the ball at goal with almost equal venom as his first attempt, but, again, the Magpies' No.1 was there and blocked it at his near post.
Bialkowski also thwarted Glovers' striker Gavin Williams on 58 minutes. Williams seized onto the ball 12 yards out, rifled it at goal and he clawed it away.
His best save of them all came on 65 minutes, or, at least, everyone thought it was a save, because afterwards Yeovil claimed the ball had crossed the goal-line. It was too hard to tell through a mass of players, in truth, so it will stand as a moment of superb goalkeeping.
Notts were almost undone from a free-kick, as Jamie McAllister, the Glovers' captain, swung the ball into the box and defender Daniel Burn powered a downward header at goal from seven yards.
It looked set to break the deadlock – and the Magpies' hearts – but Bialkowski reacted in the blink of an eye and, plunging to his left, he somehow made the save of all saves. It was immediately likened to that famous Gordon Banks save from Pele in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, it was that good.
Nobody knew quite how he pulled it off, not even Bialkowski. Even he was in a state of disbelief after the final whistle.
Notts were glad when that came, make no mistake. They have faced some big tests during their incredible unbeaten run on the road, but this proved the biggest of them all so far. Not even the likes of MK Dons and Sheffield United gave them quite the scare Yeovil did.
The Magpies were far from at their best. Andre Boucaud, who is sidelined with an ankle injury, was badly missed once again.
Without him, Notts struggled to get their passing game going so they went more direct to on-loan striker Chris Iwelumo.
But he had a hard time against Yeovil's two towering centre-backs, Burn and Byron Webster.
They still had their chances, though, and the first of those came after less than two minutes. It should have been taken.
Captain Neal Bishop has been in his best-ever form in front of goal this season, having already scored five goals. He will still be kicking himself he did not make it six, however, after the ball fell invitingly to him eight yards out, and he struck a shot straight at Yeovil goalkeeper Marek Stech who blocked it with his legs.
Yoann Arquin had their next good chance on the stroke of half-time. The young French striker grabbed all the headlines with a wonder volley against Rotherham United in the FA Cup seven days earlier, but the Magpies' leading scorer was not so clinical against the Glovers.
It was route-one stuff from Notts on 44 minutes as Bialkowski launched a long goal-kick forward, Hughes flicked it on and Arquin raced away on the left wing and drove towards the penalty area.
One on one with Stech, he attempted to curl the ball beyond him and into the top-right corner of the net, but did not get enough lift on his effort and Yeovil's Czech goalkeeper made an easy save.
Magpies went close to nicking a 1-0 win on 72 minutes. Hitting the Glovers on the break, sub Francois Zoko sent Alan Judge racing into the penalty area.
The Irishman did everything right, as he seized onto the ball and created an angle for a shot, drawing Stech off his goal-line, but his low effort went inches, no centimetres, past the foot of Stech's right-hand post.
Just like Yeovil, Notts had one complaint afterwards. They felt Glovers' defender Luke Ayling should have been sent off after just 20 seconds, after he brought down Hughes on the very edge of the penalty area as the pair challenged for a long ball forward from kick off.
They had a strong point too. Ayling was the last man, but referee Andrew Madley chose only to book him.
That would have changed everything, but a draw was the right result in the end, anyway.
League One results: Brentford 3 MK Dons 2, Bury 0 Leyton Orient 2, Carlisle 1 Sheffield Utd 3, Colchester 0 Oldham 2, Coventry 5 Walsall 1, Crawley 2 Shrewsbury 2, Hartlepool 0 Stevenage 2, Preston 1 Crewe 3, Scunthorpe 1 Bournemouth 2, Swindon 1 Doncaster 1, Tranmere 2 Portsmouth 2.
