Stevenage & Blackburn Rovers – Don’t Look Back In Anger

To attempt to look back at previous Stevenage v Brentford encounters is a futile exercise, with the teams having met in competitive action at the Broadhall Stadium only twice, both in the last two seasons and both with depressingly forgettable outcomes.

Instead, a glance back to 25 years to the day takes us back to Wednesday 12th October 1988 and a truly memorable match under the Griffin Park floodlights.

The event was a second round, second leg Littlewoods Cup-tie against Second Division Blackburn Rovers and the two teams came into the game after a 1-3 defeat in the first leg at Ewood Park two weeks earlier in which Gary Blissett’s spectacular 18-yard shot had opened the scoring in front of only 4,606 spectators.

Few would have anticipated such a thrilling evening in the second chapter but the 3,844 who turned up witnessed a spectacular night. As journalist Bill Rees wrote “Brentford strained every sinew in staging a rousing fight-back to vanquish Rovers in a seven-goal Cup thriller. They exit the Littlewoods Cup with dignity and a famous victory over their illustrious northern opponents.”

Although the attendance was small, the atmosphere generated was electric and built towards a crescendo as the prospect of an amazing turn-around became more and more possible. As it turned out, the brave Bees fell just short of taking the tie into extra-time but it wasn’t for want of trying.

There was little sign of the drama to come when Richard Cadette opened his Griffin Park account in the 25th minute, latching on to a long ball from Neil Smillie and shrugging off the attentions of Colin Hendry to unleash a fierce drive into the net and when Simon Garner equalised five minutes before the interval to give the Lancastrians a 4-2 overall lead, the second–half seemed little more than a case of keeping the score down. Those fears looked to have become reality when Garner scored again in the 48th minute and another strike from Scott Sellars increased the deficit to four goals.

But no-one had reckoned on the mastery of the impish Cadette who was instrumental in a dramatic resurgence. Using his fast-becoming customary ‘body-twist’ he dazzled defender Ian Atkins in the 64th minute to slot the ball home and give a glimmer of hope. Spurred on by a noisy support, the Second Division visitors began to look dazed and confused by the revitalised Bees who created more and more chances in a relentless drive forward.

Ten minutes after Cadette’s goal, the atmosphere reached fever-pitch when, in yet another wave of attacking, the ball ricochetted off Jamie Bates and fell to Andy Sinton whose opportunistic strike from the edge of the area beat ‘keeper Genoe ‘all-ends-up’.

To a nearby resident, it must have sounded as if Griffin Park was packed to the rafters when, in the 85th minute, Keith Jones hit a spectacular 35-yard drive to send hearts pounding and pulses racing. It was 4-3 on the night and 5-6 on aggregate with five minutes remaining to take the tie to extra-time.

Sadly, time ran out although not before the referee had decided to add to the drama by awarding Blackburn a dubious, last-gasp penalty after Howard Gayle appeared to fall to the floor with remarkable ease. Not to be denied a share of the limelight, loanee goalkeeper John Smeulders pulled off a fantastic diving save to keep the late dream alive but the incident had eaten up more valuable time and Rovers held out by the skin of their teeth.

It had been a memorable evening and Steve Perryman beamed with pride after the match, “Blackburn had a bit more quality than us but we more than matched them in effort and endeavour,” he said, “We caught them on the break but I thought that they did not have to earn their goals in the way we did.”

It was the second four-goal treat for Brentford supporters in the space of four days, with Southend having been sent home empty-handed on the end of a 4-0 battering on the previous Sunday and the season’s Cup exploits were by no means over, in fact they’d hardly even started – remember Manchester City, Blackburn (again!) and Liverpool…?

Mark Croxford