25/03/2008 - Shrewsbury 0 Notts County 0
A feeling of fear swept across the New Meadow on the fierce wind when the Notts County team news began to emerge and there was no Mike Edwards or Michael Johnson at the heart of the defence.
Johnson was never expected to make it, after suffering a groin injury in the second half against Rochdale on Saturday.
But there was hope Edwards would recover from a dead-leg to face the Shrews. And all clung to it.
The pair have formed a formidable partnership in the centre of defence, and Johnson has quickly become its linchpin following his return to Meadow Lane.
But the concern their absence would leave a giant-sized gap; one that would be impossible to fill, was swiftly proven misplaced by stunning displays from Adam Tann and Stephen Hunt.
It would be a disservice to both to label them a makeshift centre-back pairing.
Each has demonstrated his capabilities in those positions in the past - and they did so again, brilliantly, as Notts extended their unbeaten away run in the league to seven games to move seven points clear of the relegation zone.
Time and again they made timely, and telling interventions as the home side threatened. They defended as if their lives depended on it - with unbreakable determination and commitment.
The pair were not alone in being impressive. Midfielder Gary Silk was at his combative best, tirelessly harassing his opponents to give them an uneasy time, and winger Wayne Corden carried the greatest threat going forward.
He was always composed and comfortable on the ball. His influence grows with each game.
And then there was keeper Russell Hoult. He was again in commanding, unbeatable form.
He pulled off an unbelievable save in the final minute of injury time to deny Steve Leslie, to keep his fourth clean sheet in the last five games.
Notts rarely looked like scoring, which will be a concern to boss Ian McParland. But then they never looked like conceding either, even when Shrewsbury piled the pressure on big time in the second half.
The home side threatened from a series of set-pieces in the first half. But Hunt was in the right place at the right time to thwart them.
His first timely intervention came on 17 minutes when Ben Davies angled a free-kick across the face of goal and Kelvin Langmead met it at the far post.
The defender was alert to the danger and hooked the ball out at the expense of a corner. Notts could have paid a far heavier price. He was called into memorable action again just before the half-hour mark when Kevin McIntyre hit the near post with a corner kick and the ball rebounded to Davies on the edge of the penalty area.
The midfielder unleashed a venomous strike that looked destined to break the deadlock until Hunt threw himself instinctively and bravely into its path and blocked it away.
That wasn't the end of his last-ditch heroics. Far from it.
It was Corden who got the first sight of goal on five minutes, after Ryan Jarvis slid the ball out to him on the left edge of the penalty area.
He opened his body up and shaped to curl it inside the right-hand upright, but instead sent a tame effort straight at Glynn Garner.
Corden was involved again on the half-hour mark, seizing onto a pass from Jarvis and twisting his way past Graeme Lee and Ben Herd inside the box.
It was reminiscent of the way he beat two defenders in the build-up to Johnson's goal against Rochdale.
But this time there was no exciting end to his tremendous trickery, just a poor prod at goal that was easily cleared.
The best chance fell to Silk just before half-time and he so nearly took it, as he arrowed an effort at goal from the edge of the penalty area that Garner was forced to tip over his crossbar.
There was a flurry of sleet in the opening minutes of the second half. But when that ended, the Magpies had to weather a second, more sustained, storm from the home side.
It was the second half against Rochdale all over again. Shrewsbury launched wave upon wave of attacks, but somehow Notts absorbed it all to the very end.
Lee headed just wide of Hoult's left-hand upright from a McIntyre corner in the early stages, and then it took another piece of desperate defending from Hunt to deny Dave Hibbert after the Magpies had been caught off-guard at a throw-in.
Corden went close to breaking the deadlock with a powerful effort that flew just wide of Garner's left-hand upright.
It proved only a brief respite for the Magpies' rearguard, however, as substitute striker James Constable headed just over the crossbar from point-blank range on 68 minutes.
Leslie then rifled inches wide of Hoult's left-hand upright.
The winger turned creator in the closing minutes of the game, cutting inside Lee Canoville and playing the ball across the face of goal for Constable who drove a shot at goal.
Hoult was beaten but Hunt had dropped back behind his keeper in outstanding anticipation and cleared the ball off the goal-line.
That wasn't the end of the late onslaught and just a minute later Hoult raced off his line to block at the feet of Constable, who had been sent racing through. The rebound fell to Davies, who thundered an effort at goal that Tann threw himself in the way of. It was stirring stuff.
The best of all was saved until the very end, in the fifth minute of added time, when Leslie unleashed a shot that was destined for the top corner. Hoult showed rapid reactions to tip it over his crossbar.
It was, quite simply, a wonder save. And it was a deserved point for Notts. One more towards safety.