Stowmarket Town beat Brentwood Town 1-0 to strengthen grip on the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division top five
Stowmarket Town strengthened their grip on a top-five position in the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division with a 1-0 victory at home to Brentwood Town.
Tevan Allen's 17th-minute strike was all that separated the two sides at Greens Meadow this afternoon, in what was a rematch of their North Division play-off semi-final clash back in April.
Brentwood had struck in the 90th minute to end Stow's promotion hopes in the play-offs and advance to the final, where they lost on penalties to Canvey Island in the decider.
Both sides went into their first meeting of this season in fine form, with Paul Musgrove's Stowmarket on a run of 13 games unbeaten in all competitions, a run which has seen them rise to third in the table and progress to a club-record second round of the Isuzu FA Trophy.
Meanwhile, after a slow start to the 2022/23 campaign that yielded just four points from their opening six league games, Brentwood arrived into Suffolk having won their last six North Division fixtures to move to within a point of the play-off spots.
Stow boss Paul Musgrove named an unchanged line up from the one which started in Tuesday night's 2-0 home win against Witham Town, but there was a return to the bench for winger Luke Hipkin from injury.
The Old Gold & Blacks were on the front foot from the start, as Reggie Lambe had an effort pushed away by Louis Chadwick, the Brentwood goalkeeper, and Ollie Sotoyinbo headed wide from an Allen cross in the follow up after three minutes.
Recent signing Sotoyinbo, who had scored four goals in his first two appearances for his new club, threatened another goal when he sent another header off target, this time from Lambe's delivery.
The hosts found a breakthrough on 17 minutes when Allen left the Brentwood full-back Chris Gregan and, after getting past another defender, cut inside and fired low past Chadwick for his fourth goal of the season.
At the other end, the Stow defence had to be alert to the danger of front man Tom Richardson, last season's North Division golden boot winner with 31 goals, and 38 in all competitions.
Joe Jefford had to be precise when sliding in to dispossess Richardson in the box, while in a rare clear sight of goal the Brentwood striker saw his effort crash back off the post and short of the line, as the visiting supporters prematurely celebrated an equaliser.
After the break Brentwood enjoyed their best spell of the game, but a combination of an unbreachable Stow defence and wayward finishing left them empty handed.
Richardson went through and was denied by James Bradbrook, who raced out of his area to save his strike, while Flavio Jumo dragged his shot wide of the target after the ball fell nicely for him from Richardson's blocked effort at goal.
Musgrove turned to his bench and brought on Ed Upson and captain Tom Bullard to weather the storm, while Allen fired over in the final minutes as Stow searched for a second goal to ease any nerves.
The last two fixtures of Stow's first season in the Isthmian League were both against Brentwood, and the first saw the Essex side score an 86th-minute winner at Greens Meadow to earn a 1-0 victory and also snatch home advantage for their play-off semi-final three days later.
That semi-final had seen Craig Parker pop up in the same minute to equalise for Musgrove's men, before Ashley Nzala struck in the 90th minute to send Brentwood through to the final.
But there was to be no late heartache for Stow this time as the hosts saw out four minutes of added time to take all three points and extend their unbeaten run to 14 games, ahead of a trip to Vanarama National League North Banbury United in the Isuzu FA Trophy next weekend.
Stowmarket Town: Bradbrook, Casement, Smith, Wilkinson, Jefford (Bullard 80'), Curry, Allen, Ainsley (c), Sotoyinbo, Lambe, Munday (Upson 65'). Subs not used: Hipkin, Simmons, Capon. Booked: Bradbrook, Bullard. Attendance: 278.
Suffolk News man of the match: Tevan Allen was the match winner and ran himself into the ground for Stow. Also formed a good partnership down the right wing with Chris Casement which caused Brentwood problems all afternoon.
