Thomas Pinault has a reputation in training for not being able to hit the proverbial barn door.

But French ace 'Kermit' turned the poor Stockport defenders green with a 58th-minute match-winner that was so clinical and fierce when it really mattered.

It not only hit the barn door, it smashed it down.

U's player Micky Stockwell shrugs off a challenge in Saturday's 1-0 victory over Stockport County

It even provoked a smile on the face of frustrated U's boss Steve Whitton.

He was quick to praise his midfielder's super strike while at the same time fuming about shameful missed chances.

They prevented his team from opening their record fifth Second Division season with an even bigger win over Carlton Palmer's poor County side who were reduced to ten men after the 49th-minute sending-off of tough-tackling midfielder Fraser McLachlan.

Whitton said: "Thomas' shooting is the worst in the club, but we told him to have a go at every opportunity after he had stung the keeper's hands with a rasper on the stroke of half-time.

"It earned us three points and a perfect send off into a tough week with games at Tranmere and Crewe, but we should have murdered Stockport."

It was easy to see how struggling Stockport were relegated from Division One without a prayer long before the end of last season, conceding 101 goals along the way.

They would have been finished off before the end of a scrappy first half if the U's finishing had been sharper.

Bobby Bowry miscued a shot and, in the same move, Micky Stockwell spooned another effort over the bar.

U's keeper Richard McKinney, making his debut along with central defender Mark Warren, had little to do behind a solid U's defence, well marshalled by stand-in skipper Gavin Johnson, who restricted County to rare long-range efforts fromn Lambert and Luke Beckett.

Published Monday August 12, 2002

Brought to you by the Evening Gazette