Football: Double delight lifts Angell

BY DAVE HADFIELD

STOCKPORT WERE on their way to the frustration of a fifth successive draw when Brett Angell came to the rescue in the last 11 minutes of an unresolved mid-table tussle.

Angell only broke his scoring duck for the season with two goals against Wolves last Monday and he repeated the trick to make it four in five days.

Despite dominating large chunks of this game, County could not make a breakthrough until well after their best chances seemed to have gone.

Both Sean Connelly and Ian Moore went close with headers, but it was their promising young substitute, Aaron Wilbraham, who got the vital touch to knock down Paul Cook's corner and set up Angell to hook the ball home.

It was a little like a dam being breached, because County could have had three more goals before Angell struck again in the final seconds.

Moore, County's record signing by a margin puts pressure on him to produce the goods, made the running this time.

His low cross from the left was met by Angell and Aidan Davidson could only stick out a foot and deflect it into the roof of his net.

"He's our best bet, because he's got the art of being in the right place at the right time," said Angell's manager, Gary Megson. "But it was a strange game, because if anyone looked liked winning it for 20 minutes in the second half, it was them.

"It was just petering out for us. We had to change our formation and in the end we found something that caused them some problems."

The introduction of Wilbraham, not yet 19, was a crucial part of that transformation. Apart from winning the ball for Angell's first, his pace and energy always troubled Grimsby and he could have had a goal of his own before the end.

It had been an eventful week for Wilbraham, in court on an affray charge and ordered to do community service, then given a new four-year contract on the morning of this match.

"The lad's got a bright future and I hope he's learnt from it," said Megson.

Meanwhile defeat leaves the newly-promoted Grimsby pointless on their travels.