In their final match of the season, it was imperative for their Premier B survival that Brentwood managed to get some kind of result against the second-in-the-table Ipswich II.
As expected, the early pressure came from the travelling side who needed to win to have a chance of securing the Championship slot.
As has been demonstrated in previous weeks, Brentwood's improved defence stood firm.
Darren Leppard and Simon Parsons proved a match for the Ipswich forwards who had been prolific against other league opposition.
Having soaked up the pressure, Brentwood set about creating their own chances and were soon in the lead.
Jamie Agate returning from injury flew down the right wing before pulling the ball back to Demi Vassilliou to shoot.
Ipswich came back but were unable to create any clear cut chances.
The second half could not have started any worse for the home side.
Straight from the push back a skilful Ipswich player jinked his way past a number of tackles before slotting the ball comfortably past Johnson.
Once again Ipswich took the upper hand. Four or five short corners in succession finally resulted in them taking the lead.
The Brentwood players' heads could have dropped but they were well aware that there was more at stake than just this game.
Soon they were attacking with vigour as Rob Cousins and Peter Anderson took control of the Midfield.
James Duggan looked set to be the hero of the hour when he received a cross but he was cruelly denied the chance to shoot by a defender who chopped his stick away.
The second penalty flick of the match was awarded and Richard Trett jogged forward. Having missed his flick last week he made no mistake with this one to level the scores.
Brentwood repelled any further attacks in the final minutes and were left to wait to hear the results of other matches to know whether they were safe from relegation.
As it turned out their efforts had not gone in vain as both Letchworth and Havering lost their matches, which means Brentwood finished in ninth place and out of the relegation zone.
Published Wednesday, April 9, 2003
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