Jon Taylor's Boxing Day appearance at the Greenhous Meadow may have been unexpected but not as much as the freak finish which bagged Shrewsbury Town a welcome point.
A hamstring injury suffered at Bury last Friday seemed destined to have ruined the in-form winger's chances of maintaining his stellar scoring run.
But the Liverpudlian is Town's natural-born finisher at the moment, so manager Graham Turner had no hesitation pencilling him on the team sheet again once he got the go-head from his medics.
Taylor has produced some instinctive finishes in recent weeks. But his 82nd-minute equaliser which looped over hapless keeper Bartosz Bialkowski owed more to fortune than design.
Yet neither he nor Turner were complaining about the quality of his fourth goal in consecutive games.
For it grabbed a useful point to maintain Salop's improvement against a physically well-equipped side who appeared to be heading back to the East Midlands with three after they took a firm grip of the second period.
While Taylor's inclusion was a boost for Town, Keith Curle's County also enjoyed a fillip when Lee Hughes was declared fit after illness to lead the line. T
he veteran was just one of several powerful striking options available to Curle. Neither Luke Rodgers nor Marvin Morgan offered enough sustained threat to suggest they could seize the initiative.
Although, Rodgers, in fairness, was sharp when taking advantage of Morgan's lay-off for the 19th-minute opener. It was his first goal of December, which means he can collect a turkey from local pub owner and ex-Town boss Jake King.
Sadly, his side were left squawking in anguish after he then lost possession to marauding winger Alan Judge deep in the opposing half.
Notts were already level by then and after Judge raced 50 yards to force Chris Weale to parry into the path of Jamal Campbell-Ryce on the stroke of half-time, Town found themselves on the back foot for much of the second-half.
The visitors' direct approach often posed problems and Darren Jones was living dangerously when he sliced Andre Boucoud's cross over his own bar.
And it proved to be only a momentary reprieve for Shrewsbury, as dreadful marking from Judge's corner allowed the visitors to draw level in the 23rd-minute.
Hughes turned for his trademark salute, although it appeared the corner flicked off youngster Cameron Gayle's head.
Taylor came close to regaining the lead for his side in the next minute when he burst clear inside the box. It was only Bialkowski's quick work off his line which denied the winger.
Then Paul Parry's excellent delivery from the right wing deserved a better finish than the one Aaron Wildig applied to it.
The midfielder had time to pick his header from standing just inside the box, but could only angle his effort past the post.
Notts were perhaps fortunate to survive too when Bialkowski spilled a routine cross, allowing Rodgers to set up Matt Richards.
But there was a pink shirt in front of the skipper's blast at goal. Campbell-Ryce maintained his threat after netting Notts' second.
The well-travelled winger was given too much room to size up a shot from 25 yards, which crept just past the bottom corner.
After Parry forced Bialkowski to punch out a shot-cum-cross, County streamed to the other end with Judge forcing Weale to parry a long-range effort less than convincingly.
Yet Weale was at his best when he came to the rescue by pawing around Judge's well-placed free-kick soon after. Asa Hall and Rob Purdie's arrival at the expense of Wildig and Parry was hardly unexpected.
Hall, in particular, was instrumental in pushing his side out of their own half in the closing stages. But Curle's double substitution proved effective too with Enoch Showunmi and Yoann Arquin offering fresh legs.
Arquin ran through the middle for what seemed the winner only for the Frenchman to show no composure when blazing over. And his keeper also lost his head as he presented Salop with their equaliser with eight minutes left.
Taylor's cross from way out on the right took a massive deflection and as Bialkowski lost the trajectory he punched the ball into the top corner of his own net.
By Gwyn Griffiths
