Swindon Town 0 Stockport County 1
The scoreline tells one story, the only one that matters. Stockport took all three points to rise to sixth place in the second division. Swindon lost, and crashed further down the league to 18th spot.
The rest of this entry is devoted to the other part of the story, the one that doesn’t really matter, but which every member of the 5,500 crowd will be talking about tonight. It’s the story of how Swindon Town allowed themselves to be mugged at the County Ground: how they came away with nothing from a game they dominated, a game they should have won by a superb margin.
Stockport started brightly, but Town should have taken the lead in only the third minute when the ball came in from the left wing and Jimmy Davis, rushing in at the back post, stretched to blast it over from only six yards out.
Little did he know he was going to set a pattern for the rest of the day: incisive build-up play foiled by bad misses and, you’ve got to say, some quite superb defending from Stockport County.
Miglioranzi and Davis stung the palms of Lee Jones in the County goal and it took until the 25th minute for Stockport to get their first corner after Bart Gremink had tipped over a long-range Beckett shot.
Jimmy Davis was causing Stockport all manner of trouble, his trickery winning Town a few free kicks around the area, but Town failed to make it count, with Jones dealing comfortably with shots from Miglioranzi and Gurney.
But Town continued to turn the screw. David Challinor got a booking after pulling down Eric Sabin, who had set off on his trademark runs towards the box. But, again, we couldn’t capitalise, Alan Reeves putting a header over the bar from the free kick.
And just before half time even Super Sam Parkin was joining in the act, missing a chance with his head from only a few yards out.
But there were a few warnings, if we could only have seen them at the time, in Stockport’s attacking play, particularly where Gibb was finding space behind David Duke.
That hole was where Stockport were to get their goal in the 56th minute. Needless to say, Town had been attacking – one of our brightest spells of the game – with Sam Parkin firing in a great shot that Jones did well to stop. Seconds later, Gurney was denied by – again – by a superb stop.
It seemed it was only a matter of time before we got something.
But Stockport broke up the park, Gibb racing down their right wing, beating Duke and crossing. The ball broke to Luke Beckett and he, unmarked, finished from close in. As the tiny band of County fans celebrated, the rest of the County Ground sat stunned. It was a lead they never deserved – but Town’s shoddy defending had let the visitors take it.
The remainder of the match followed a now predictable course: Town throwing everything forward, with Sam Parkin particularly unlucky to see a looping header beat the goalkeeper, only to meet a blue-clad defender on the line.
As the frustration grew, Town lost their shape, with King indulging in his old, hapless trick of pushing Matty Heywood up as a reserve forward. King also – worst of all – took off Steve Robinson, who had performed well in midfield, to put on Adam Willis to replace Heywood at the back. The resulting route one football got little change out the Stockport back line, who were well marshalled by Carlton Palmer.
In the dying minutes Jimmy Davis peppered the County box with corner kicks but even with our mob-handed forward line, which by this time also included Alan Reeves, we couldn’t find an equaliser.
On the final whistle, Town’s players looked as though they’d lost a cup final – Stockport’s like they’d won one. King and Reeves both said afterwards they had never seen such a one-sided match, but the cruel fact was Town simply couldn’t make their dominance count. And remember the only story that matters is the scoreline.
Here's the Annanova report.
Town team:
Griemink , Edds , Heywood , Reeves , Duke , Davis , Gurney , Robinson , Miglioranzi , Parkin , Sabin, Subs: Farr , Edwards , Young , Willis , Cobian
The rest of this entry is devoted to the other part of the story, the one that doesn’t really matter, but which every member of the 5,500 crowd will be talking about tonight. It’s the story of how Swindon Town allowed themselves to be mugged at the County Ground: how they came away with nothing from a game they dominated, a game they should have won by a superb margin.
Stockport started brightly, but Town should have taken the lead in only the third minute when the ball came in from the left wing and Jimmy Davis, rushing in at the back post, stretched to blast it over from only six yards out.
Little did he know he was going to set a pattern for the rest of the day: incisive build-up play foiled by bad misses and, you’ve got to say, some quite superb defending from Stockport County.
Miglioranzi and Davis stung the palms of Lee Jones in the County goal and it took until the 25th minute for Stockport to get their first corner after Bart Gremink had tipped over a long-range Beckett shot.
Jimmy Davis was causing Stockport all manner of trouble, his trickery winning Town a few free kicks around the area, but Town failed to make it count, with Jones dealing comfortably with shots from Miglioranzi and Gurney.
But Town continued to turn the screw. David Challinor got a booking after pulling down Eric Sabin, who had set off on his trademark runs towards the box. But, again, we couldn’t capitalise, Alan Reeves putting a header over the bar from the free kick.
And just before half time even Super Sam Parkin was joining in the act, missing a chance with his head from only a few yards out.
But there were a few warnings, if we could only have seen them at the time, in Stockport’s attacking play, particularly where Gibb was finding space behind David Duke.
That hole was where Stockport were to get their goal in the 56th minute. Needless to say, Town had been attacking – one of our brightest spells of the game – with Sam Parkin firing in a great shot that Jones did well to stop. Seconds later, Gurney was denied by – again – by a superb stop.
It seemed it was only a matter of time before we got something.
But Stockport broke up the park, Gibb racing down their right wing, beating Duke and crossing. The ball broke to Luke Beckett and he, unmarked, finished from close in. As the tiny band of County fans celebrated, the rest of the County Ground sat stunned. It was a lead they never deserved – but Town’s shoddy defending had let the visitors take it.
The remainder of the match followed a now predictable course: Town throwing everything forward, with Sam Parkin particularly unlucky to see a looping header beat the goalkeeper, only to meet a blue-clad defender on the line.
As the frustration grew, Town lost their shape, with King indulging in his old, hapless trick of pushing Matty Heywood up as a reserve forward. King also – worst of all – took off Steve Robinson, who had performed well in midfield, to put on Adam Willis to replace Heywood at the back. The resulting route one football got little change out the Stockport back line, who were well marshalled by Carlton Palmer.
In the dying minutes Jimmy Davis peppered the County box with corner kicks but even with our mob-handed forward line, which by this time also included Alan Reeves, we couldn’t find an equaliser.
On the final whistle, Town’s players looked as though they’d lost a cup final – Stockport’s like they’d won one. King and Reeves both said afterwards they had never seen such a one-sided match, but the cruel fact was Town simply couldn’t make their dominance count. And remember the only story that matters is the scoreline.
Here's the Annanova report.
Town team:
Griemink , Edds , Heywood , Reeves , Duke , Davis , Gurney , Robinson , Miglioranzi , Parkin , Sabin, Subs: Farr , Edwards , Young , Willis , Cobian
