The 2001 Football League Trophy Final (known as the LDV Vans Trophy for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th final of the Football League Trophy, the domestic football cup competition for teams from the Football League Second and Third Divisions. It was the first League Trophy final played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, previous such matches were played at Wembley and the new stadium was yet to be built. The match was contested by Port Vale and Brentford on 22 April 2001. Port Vale won the match 2–1 with Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and Steve Brooker the scorers.

The 2001 Football League Trophy Final was the second such game for both clubs. Port Vale had defeated 2–1 in 1993 and Brentford had lost 3–1 to Wigan Athletic in 1985. The year previous to Vale's original first title, rivals Stoke City had taken home the trophy. Stoke were the winners of the 2000 final, so a "keeping up with the Joneses" mindset gave Vale extra motivation to win in 2001, as well as providing them with something of a good omen.

Port Vale, based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent and London based Brentford had little reason to take note of each other before facing each other in the final. They had previously been restricted to league encounters and the final was the first cup fixture between the two clubs. Earlier in the 2000–01 season both games had finished as 1–1 draws; Widdrington and Owusu scoring at Vale Park, Evans and Bridge-Wilkinson the scorers at Griffin Park. Both clubs finished the season in mid-table; Vale in 11th and Brentford in 14th, just three points separating them after 46 games. All the evidence pointed to a close match.

...
Wikipedia