Bournemouth 0 Notts County 1

By [dparkinson]

THERE must be something in the sea air that inspires Notts County because almost three months after winning on the north-east Lincolnshire coast at Grimsby Town they finally ended their long wait for an away win on the south coast.

It is not quite the summer season in Bournemouth – and the Magpies produced a performance that proved they are not thinking about their holidays just yet.

They might not be challenging for the play-offs but on a beautiful spring day they aptly had a spring in their step.

On their day they can be magnificent and it was their day at Dean Court – with keeper Kevin Pilkington and Myles Weston at the fore.

Pilkington has made some high-profile howlers this season – he has been the first to hold his hands up in admission to that.

In fact, the Magpies should have won their very first away game of the year at league leaders Brentford. They should never have had to wait until their eighth road trip of 2009 to taste victory.

Memorably leading 1-0 in injury-time at Griffin Park in January, Pilkington gifted the Bees an easy equaliser when he came off his goal-line in an attempt to punch a hopeful cross clear but failed.

In that moment, a wonderful win became a disappointing draw.

Against Bournemouth, however, Pilkington pulled off two quite stunning early saves to deny the home side.

He has always been a superb shot-stopper and he did well to parry a powerful strike from Jeff Goulding, after the Cherries had worked their way into the penalty area far too easily down the right.

That was only the opening act of his heroics. He then showed rapid reactions to parry Anton Robinson's header, after the midfielder pounced on the rebound and then somehow managed to claw it away at the second attempt as he fell backwards.

In fairness, the Magpies then enjoyed some good fortune when the ball fell to Brett Pitman, who rifled an effort off the top of the crossbar. But, given Pilkington's brilliance, it was deserved.

If the home side had scored, it would have been a very different game, and possibly even outcome. Such an early goal would have given them impetus.

Instead, it inspired Notts. It was a moment that gave them confidence. It was a match-winning moment as much as Weston's telling first-half strike.

Steadily and surely, the Magpies took command. There was an absorbing composure and purpose about their passing. Every one of them looked entirely assured in possession, no one panicked.

Of course, the pristine pitch invited it and they were a joy to watch. None more so than Weston.

It was only a few weeks ago that the young winger was banned from wearing fluorescent green boots, after just one game. Ian McParland wanted him to illuminate games with his skill, not his footwear. How he did that at Dean Court. He proved once again that he has prodigious ability to match his pace and completely terrorised right-back Lee Bradbury, who never re-emerged for the second half. He probably asked to be substituted.

He took his goal with the clinical coolness of a top-class striker, firing a low shot past Shwan Jalal from close-range after Delroy Facey had hooked Matt Hamshaw's throw-in into the penalty area.

It was his fourth of the season, and the fourth time he has inspired a victory.

There was so much more to his performance though than just his goal. That was simply the icing on an incredible display from the 21-year-old.

Some of his deliveries into the box in the first half were stunning and Facey should perhaps have scored on 15 minutes when he measured a delightful deep cross to the far post from the left wing. The striker met it with a purposeful header but directed it straight at Jalal, who held comfortably.

More and more now, there is an elegant end product to Weston's play. Since the start of the season, he has improved that area of his game unbelievably.

Just before he struck decisively too, Weston swept past Bradbury and into the box but, like Facey, his effort was straight at Jalal.

After the game, he refused to get drawn on his future. He reiterated his desire to focus on the final part of the season before deciding whether to sign a new deal at Meadow Lane – one that was offered to him last October.

There is no doubt he has the ability to play at a higher level so if McParland can persuade him to put pen to paper it would arguably be his best signing of the summer.

The margin of the Magpies' win should easily have been more emphatic in the end.

Jamie Forrester missed easily the most glorious chance from the penalty spot on his return to the starting line-up for the first time in five games, just a few minutes after Weston had broken the deadlock.

With four successful spot-kicks out of four before he stepped-up in the closing minutes of the first half, he has been deadly from 12 yards.

Jalal had brought the striker down inside the box but made swift amends, diving to his left and parrying his penalty.

If it had gone in, it would have been game over. Instead, it left the home side with some hope of staging a fight-back in the second half.

They certainly enjoyed greater possession after the break but the Magpies were disciplined and organised and resolutely repelled them. And it was substitute Jonathan Forte who had the best chance in the closing minutes when Weston sent him racing clean through.

But the on-loan striker's first touch was woefully too strong and Jalal gathered easily.

There was a nervy moment in the final minute when Cherries' substitute Shaun Cooper thundered a powerful long-range effort at goal but Pilkington proved its equal, getting a strong hand to it at full-stretch to his left.

Notts will have endured some long, quiet, return journeys from away games this year. But the trip back from Bournemouth, one of their longest, must have felt like the shortest and been the most enjoyable by far.

Roll on Morecambe.