It was a warm Saturday afternoon as Stockport entertained Brentford at
Edgerley Park in front of 4408 fans. Brentford had managed to get fans up
to Stockport on the coach for two pounds in a bid to liven up the away
attendance.
Brentford had the best of the early exchanges with Andrew Frampton having
a 25 yard effort caught by the keeper. Jay Tabb had two long-range shots
in the first 15 minutes. One was caught by James Spencer and the other
went over the bar.
Unfortunately Michael Dobson had picked up an injury and had to be taken
off after 18 minutes. This was after Stockport had had a couple of
corners. Brentford then upped the pressure and forced a couple of corners
for themselves. Darren Pratley had a shot cleard by Ashley Williams.
The game became scrappy for about10 minutes with both teams exchanging
fouls. Brentford managed to put some good moves together resulting in
forcing James Spencer to have to claim a Stewart Talbot cross.
The game petered out to half time with the score 0-0. Neither teams had
had a meaningful shot at goal.
Martin Allen's half time team-talk certainly sparked a bit of life into
Brentford. Darren Pratley had a shot blocked by Michael Raynes.
Unfortunately for Brentford Jay Tabb could not get the corner in properly
and it went out for a goal kick Stewart Talbot blocked a shot from Kevan
Hurst. Adam Le Fondre had a shot caught by Stuart Nelson.
Brentford took the lead through Scott P. Fitzgerald. Isaiah Rankin
threaded an inch perfect pass through to Fitzgerald and he lashed it home
into the bottom corner from 6 yards. (Stockport 0-1 Brentford)
Brentford then went looking for the second. Steve Hunt was caught offside.
Kevin O'Connor had a shot caught by Stockport's keeper. Stockport tried to
recover from this set-back which if the score stayed like it was, barring
any club going into administration, they would be relegated today. They
forced Brentford back just looking for the stay of execution.
Brentford kept the ball for most of this period and tried to hold on to
their 1-0 lead. Stockport were unable to force Stuart Nelson into making a
good save.
However there was to be a twist in the game as Sam Sodje was adjudged to
have fouled Adam Le Fondre in the box and a penalty was awarded. Adam Le
Fondre dusted himself down and put the ball into the bottom right hand
corner of the net to make things level. (Stockport 1-1 Brentford).
Martin Allen unleashed Ryan Peters from the subs bench. 2 minutes after
the substitution Brentford scored their winner. A Jay Tabb corner knocked
on by Scott P. Fitzgerald was driven into the bottom left hand corner of
the goal by Sam Sodje making up for conceding the penalty. (Stockport 1-2
Brentford).
Stockport were deflated after Sodje's 86th minute goal. Martin Allen
brought on Andy Myers to steady the back line. Brentford managed to hold
on to gain the 2-1 victory which on possession they totally deserved. This
result with other results going against them condemned Stockport to League
2 football next season.
Possession:
Stockport 35% - 65% Brentford
Shots:
Stockport 3 - 15 Brentford
Corners:
Stockport 5 - 11 Brentford
Fouls
Stockport 6 - 12 Brentford
Bookings:
Stockport 0 - 0 Brentford
Stockport
J Spencer, J Goodwin, A Williams, M Raynes, E Horwood, K Hurst, E
Tomlinson (S Barlow 64) , D Allen, D Jackman (K Briggs65) , M Robinson (J
Hardiker 81) , A Le Fondre
Subs: N Cutler, L Dje,
Brentford
S Nelson, K O''Connor, S Sodje, M Turner, A Frampton, D Pratley, S Talbot,
M Dobson (I Rankin 18) , J Tabb, S Hunt (R Peters 83) , S Fitzgerald (A
Myers 88)
Subs: S B Fitzgerald, A Bankole
Ref: T Parkes