Today’s game came too soon for Omar Koroma, whose return from injury is going well. He wasn’t fit enough to be involved, but he’ll be ready for the home tie against Luton on the weekend. In-form defender Samba Kanouté had to sit this one out, too, because of fatigue. Michael Woods and Peter Bore returned to the starting lineup, with Alan Power dropping to the bench.
A brilliant left-wing run from Benjamin Laurant nearly got us an early lead. Just two minutes into the game, the winger picked up the ball inside his own half and dribbled past four Stockport players before shooting from the edge of the box. Unfortunately the finish didn’t match the run, and he fired wide of goal.
Shuker opened the scoring in the 19th minute, tapping in from close range to complete a fine passing move by Billington, Laurant, and Birchall. Stockport looked incapable to prevent a rout. If my players wanted to score big, I got the distinct impression that they would.
Stockport had a goal disallowed for offside on the brink of half-time. It was their one and only attacking move of the first period. After watching such an anaemic resistance, I worried about complacency in the second half. My players seemed to respond positively to a team talk warning about exactly that.
Laurant started the second half much as he had the first, twice using his dribbling to cause problems for the Stockport defence. He first set up Barnes-Homer for a lunging chance (he missed the ball), then hit the side netting on a solo effort.
Barnes-Homer found the back of the net in the 54th minute, but the goal was ruled out as offside. Then Woods got upended just inside the box. Chris Shuker confidently dispatched the penalty for our second of the game.
Substitute Alan Power added our third ten minutes later. In what was probably his third touch of the game, the playmaker struck a thunderous drive from the edge of the box that left the Stockport keeper helpless.
Good goalkeeping kept Rui Marques from making it four just moments later, as Parisi reacted quickly to stop the in-form defender from nodding a corner ball home. We had several more half-chances as the match wore on, and still Stockport had no reply.
Three-nil is how it stayed. Chris Shuker was awarded man of the match, although Benjamin Laurant’s performance is the one that turned my head. Young left back Alex Billington also impressed, as did fellow defenders Peter Bore and Josh Gowling. Marques and Birchall were the same steady, calming influence that they always are. The result marked our third consecutive clean sheet.
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