League One Results 8th May Part 1

Brentford 0-0 Hartlepool United
Brentford finish in a more than creditable 9th place while for Hartlepool the overwhelming feeling is probably one of relief. Their three-point deduction put them in real danger but the point allowed them to stay up on goal difference, at the expense of Gillingham.
Lewis Price was left out of the squad, with the reserve goalkeeper place given to young Simon Moore. Brentford’s other loan goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, left the field in the first minute of stoppage time, presumably so he could get a bit of (very much deserved) applause from the supporters. Maybe Lewis had gone back to Derby in disgust (I wouldn’t blame him) but Lewis was crucial for Brentford at the beginning of the season so it would have been nice to give him the final few minutes.

Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 Yeovil Town
A final-day win for Brighton was enough for them to finish in 13th, a point behind Milton Keynes Dons – probably somewhere they never thought they’d be at the start of the season. Quite possibly somewhere they never thought they’d be just a few short weeks ago.
Andrew Crofts was given the Brighton captaincy after an excellent first half to the season and he continued his great work in this match. He was substituted two minutes from the end so the fans could applaud their Player of the Year.
Yeovil are another team who were in relegation trouble not that long ago, only to be saved by a Wels midfielder. Okay, let’s be fair, a total of four Welsh midfielders (not to mention an English midfielder called Welsh) contributed to Yeovil’s survival.
Star loanee Gavin Williams’ ankle injury meant he started on the bench and only made an appearance after 63 minutes but I’m sure he was applauded onto the pitch. Shaun MacDonald, as expected, didn’t recover from his groin injury in time for the final game of the season but he did enough with Brighton to be offered a new contract at parent club Swansea City. Arron Davies came off the bench ten minutes after Gavin. The fourth star Welsh midfielder is Owain Tudur Jones, now back with Norwich City.
Yeovil had only six substitutes this week but four of them were Welsh. In addition to Gavin and Arron, assistant manager Nathan Jones was also on the bench and there was what I believe was a first ever appearance in the squad for young Rhys Baggridge. This team could hardly have been more perfect if I’d picked it myself.

Exeter City 2-1 Huddersfield Town
Exeter’s League One status was looking very shaky before this match. Tranmere Rovers looked certain to beat Stockport County and a win was necessary in order to climb above Gillingham and (taking goal difference into account) Hartlepool United. As Exeter were facing Huddersfield Town, who still had a chance of automatic promotion, they probably weren’t exactly the favourites for this match.
But it happened, Exeter survived and they will play again in League One next season.
Richard Duffy was the only Welshman to start for Exeter and was involved in the mix-up that led to Huddersfield’s goal but luckily that didn’t matter. Richard was joined by Rob Edwards after 62 minutes but Andy Marriott and Stuart Fleetwood spent the last game of the season on the bench.