And did so on the most typical cold, wet Tuesday night in Rochdale that the press no doubt warned him about when he first took charge of the Magpies back in the Summer. Middle Eastern consortiums and their overhyped spending aren't designed for nights like this.

But in the words of Stephen Patrick, what difference does it make? The home crowd differed very little from what you'd have expected, and the 350ish away following could probably all have shouted out "here" when faced with the song "Where were you when you were skint / sh*t?". We had a few more in the press box, but other than that, it was business as usual for a Dale v Notts County game, same home fans, same away fans.

And that included the score as Dale made it four wins in succession against their Nottingham based opponents after coming from behind to record a 2-1 victory which was pretty much deserved, even if there was more than a hint of controversy along the way.

The overhyped Middle Eastern Millions has had a weird effect at County. There is clearly a couple of name signings within their ranks, but on the whole the new recruits have been those with a pedigree for this level and you would assume not costing the earth. Well costing the earth in our terms, but signings which are probably par for the course for a club with a bit of money at this level, eg Shrewsbury last season, Peterboro the year before etc.

But with a budget which allows you all the names that are be available to you, you're best to keep things simply. Couple of lads called Chris up front, couple of wingers called Will and two blokes in the middle called Jason. That's what Keith did with our injury and suspension hit squad. And it worked a treat!

The prematch team talk must have consisted of simply "Go and kill them, and do it quickly". Or so it seemed as Dale raced their way out of the traps with a ten minute assault on the visitor's goalmouth. To call it a barrage of corners doesn't really do it justice as we must have had about seven or eight within that opening spell of the game, none of which were comfortably dealt with by the Magpies.

A number of half chances fell our way and there were far too many of them to list them all in here, but you could almost detect a confidence growing within the opposition as we continued to draw a blank in front of goals, perhaps not unlike ourselves at Dagenham at the weekend.

After all, the visitors were no chumps, possessing a number of players with sufficient talent to grab a goal out of nothing. And after this opening spell of the game, they more than showed themselves capable of causing us a threat. Indeed, it was they who had the first jaw dropping chance of the game when we had to rely on the woodwork to save us.

But not to be outdone, we get our backsides back in gear, and it was Chris Dagnall who had me jumping into the air for the first time in the evening. His long range effort beat former Bury keeper Schmeichel but cannoned off the underside of the bar. It was enough to get the adrenalin pumping and thinking we had scored, but swiftly followed by the disappointment of seeing play continuing and the rebound put wide.

If that was a close call, then it got even closer a minute or two later. Former Bradford man Graeme Lee fired a header from a corner goalwards, but in the most nonchalant style going, Jason Taylor chested the ball off the line and thus ended all arguments about whether we should have held on to our fifth choice winger.

But with around ten minutes of the first half remaining, we had perhaps the first insight into the financial structure at Notts County these days. You can only assume that written into the players' contracts is the biggest goal scoring bonus known to man. For there could be no other reason for Ben Davies to go off scurrying to his team mates to celebrate scoring his side's opener.

We'd struggled to clear the ranks, and after an attack or two, Luke Rodgers crossed the ball, with full back Matt Flynn careering the ball into the back of the net for a clear own goal that anyone with forty yards of it would testify to. Not Mr Davies, who raced off celebrating his goal oblivious to the fact that these games are televised.

So 1-0 down against a very good side, and that was the last thing we wanted in a game that we'd come into on the back of three successive home defeats. But it was the last thing we wanted at Daggers at the weekend, and we all know what happened there.

Chris Dagnall raced into the box, and was sandwiched by a couple of County defenders. Gut feeling for me was that it was not a penalty, and I was very much surprised to see the linesman being so sure about the decision.

To say the County players weren't happy is a bit like saying we've been in this division for a couple of years or so, and you have to wonder just what precisely would have been required for young Schmeichel to pick up a yellow card at this stage such was the ferocity of his complaints and subsequent putting off tactics.

Nevermind, Daggers stepped up in the absence of Tom Kennedy and teased the former Bury man enough to allow him a hand on it before it settled in the back of the net. 1-1 game on.

With time running out in the first half, you had to assume that the foreign management team at Notts County have yet to translate the words for "my ball" as two County defenders went for the same ball, taking themselves out giving Chris O'Grady pretty much the whole of the County half to himself.

Despite one touch which threatened to lose control, he successfully rounded Schmeichel and just in the nick of time, he poked it in to give Dale the lead.

We could even have sneaked another as Dagnall robbed the ball off one of the Notts backline in the remaining second, being felled in the process. A potentially goal saving yellow card.

Half time brought even worse conditions to the game, but with a pitch looking in a magnificent state, there were to be no puddles to save Notts this week.

The second half was just what you'd have expected it to be. The visitors had bags of possession, whilst we tried to pick them off on the break, perhaps in a way that worked so well against Bury back in September.

The opening spell was reminiscent of our own start to the game, apart from this time that it was the visitors in the ascendancy and it seemed almost inevitable to everyone there that County would eventually score. Well everyone except Dawson and Stanton who were adamant all evening that it was only going to be one of their own who scored against them.

The two were outstanding giving the opposition's front two no time or room at all, and with a midfield picking up all the scraps available, there was sufficient hope at this stage that we'd be able to hold on, or even increase our lead.

If we were somewhat fortunate to receive the penalty in the first half, we were denied one in the second half when Craig Dawson was pushed to the ground during one of the corners.

The two Wills were in outstanding form as a breakaway outlet, and young Atkinson must be absolutely terrified at just how much energy he is giving down here in League Two. The poor lad looked shattered when he was withdrawn for Higginbotham with around fifteen minutes to go.

In fact, our patched up side seemed to be tiring as the game went on, which is no surprise given recent games and the number of injuries that we've had. This allowed a late flurry from the visitors.

But again for all the possession that they enjoyed, actual clear cut chances were few and far between. There were a couple of decent efforts but on the whole, it was the dominant Dale defence who bossed the game as we seemed quite content to keep them at arm's length.

But when you play that, there is always going to be one chance. And it came the way of a player for whom managers have forked out well in excess of £15 million over the years. Akinbiyi had a glorious opportunity but it was tamer than kitten on chloroform and he effectively ended the game by tapping it back to the onloan Dale keeper Heaton. Game over.

Looking back at the game, it was a very difficult game to judge overall. Both sides had spells in the game where they were on top, and maybe it just came down to our ability to pot the black ball.

There'll no doubt be County fans claiming that they were deserving something from this game, citing the penalty and second half possession as justification for doing so, but such possession was not wasted but rather thwarted by our own outstanding defensive work.

Notts clearly have some very good players in their arsenal, but it has been our own ability to play as a team which was the difference on the evening, and Sven's pre-match talk of Champions League football coming to Meadow Lane couldn't be any further away until they can get the team play as a team.

But leave the County post-mortems to their long suffering supporters, and bask in the glory of knowing that we are continuing to get things right at Spotland, and that for all the millions that exist in the world, you can't put a price on what we're going through right now.

Proper football played by local lads, motivated by footballing success rather than financial rewards. It's absolutely priceless.