Saturday 30th July 2022: League Two: Edgeley Park: Stockport County vs AFC Barrow
After 11 seasons in the non-league wilderness Stockport County return to the EFL having romped to the National League title last season. They won 30 of their 44 matches last season and finished with a 6 point cushion over their nearest rivals and the wave of optimism that this has created within the fans has left them dreaming of back-to-back promotions.
In this endeavour they can take inspiration from the exploits of Sutton United on their first season back in the league system last time out, when they managed to make a push for the playoffs before ultimately finishing in 8th place just a point from their goal. Realistically though the first goal has to be simply cementing their place back in the EFL after more than a decade away, during which they even spent time in the 6th tier of English football.
Whilst Stockport obviously have some great things going on behind the scenes, and in Paddy Madden and Antoni Sarcevic they have players with the ability to scare any defender in the league, Edgeley Park is not in the best shape itself. The stadium looks like a housing block from the outside, with only the towering floodlights alerting passers-by to the existence of a football stadium behind the brick. For those familiar with London football grounds think Leyton Orient.
Entering through a car park and having to walk down by the pitch and up through the stand to find the food kiosks is not fun either but the kicker of it all is the view, or lack thereof, of the pitch. I was in the Together Stand and as such my view of the pitch is obstructed by giant pillars holding up the roof and you can’t see the screen away to your right either as the media gantry drops from the roof and hangs directly over your sightlines. The pillars in the way remind me of the view I used to have at Griffin Park but the media gantry blocking the screen, deserted except for one camera and its operator, was a new one on me and was particularly unhelpful when added to a tannoy set to a level so low that even the quietest whisperer in the world would struggle to match.
Given these problems I was pleased to be able to manage to take down the full starting 11 and substitutes that Dave Challinor had selected to represent County on their return to the big-time.
Stockport Starting 11: 1 Ben Hinchcliffe, 2 Macauley Southam-Hales, 3 Mark Kitching, 6 Fraser Horsfall, 8 Callum Camps, 9 Paddy Madden, 10 Antoni Sarcevic, 14, Will Collar, 17 Ryan Rydell, 19 Kyle Wootton, 31 Joe Lewis.
The team that Stockport were facing on their return to the EFL was AFC Barrow, who had only avoided swapping leagues with their hots by a measly 6 points last season. On paper this looked to be a simple match for Stockport to ease their way back into League Two. Pete Wild and his team were determined to prove them wrong as they lined up as follows.
AFC Barrow Starting 11: 1 Paul Farman, 5 Sam McClelland, 6 Niall Canavan, 9 Billy Waters, 10 Josh Gordon, 14 Harrison Neal, 15 Robbie Gotts, 16 Sam Foley, 21 Tyler Warren, 25 George Ray, 34 Ben Whitfield
Whitfield had more reason than the rest of his team to want to ruin Stockport’s day as he was a County player till a few weeks ago, before making the switch to the Cumbrians. From kick-off it looked like the hosts day would be ruined within the first minute as Kyle Wootton’s clearance smashes into Tyler Warren. He got the ball under control, advanced to the edge of the box and unleashes a shot that flies straight down the keeper’s throat.
It was an early warning for Stockport of just how careful they have to be at the back in this league. They failed to heed this warning and within 6 minutes they found themselves 1-0 down. Barrow’s goal came completely against the run of play, as Stockport found joy and gaps down either wing, but the hosts had no-one to blame except themselves. After simple punt upfield by Farman was not dealt with in midfield by Stockport and it was Whitfield whose round-the-corner ball that found Gordon in yards of space with just the keeper to beat. Gordon did the rest, slipping the ball under the keeper’s dive to the left and sliding it into the net by the right-hand post.
Getting the breakthrough emboldened Barrow as they pushed forward in search of a second to add to their lead. This new attacking outlook from Barrow was leaving gaps in behind them for the hosts to exploit though, but luckily for the visitors their offside trap was in excellent working order as they caught Sarcevic straying the wrong side of the line multiple times in the first 45. The few chances that the hosts created and which escaped the trap were met by some truly abysmal finishing, with Sarcevic kicking air when free in the box. Southam-Hales took the dreadful finishing one step further than any of his teammates when he had a shot from near the right touchline that ended up going out for a throw on the other side.
The frustration of the hosts was poured into more attacks, but the frustration of the visitors at not extending their lead boiled over in the 15th minute. Southam-Hales initiated a break for County before Harrison Neal and Sam Foley barrelled into him from opposite sides just as he entered the centre circle. It was Neal, as the primary offender, who picked up the card for this agricultural tackle whilst Foley got off without so much as a warning.
Frustration now out of their system Barrow double their lead in the 20th minute and it was Whitfield who got the finish on this one, stepping up from his assist for the first. He was played in down the left channel by Billy Waters. Advancing to the edge of the 6 yard box he slotted the ball across the keeper, cool as a cucumber, and in off the right-hand post to send the away fans into raptures. Home fans all around me had their heads in their hands as their ex-player wheeled away in celebration.
Having now conceded twice in the opening 20 minutes Stockport went into full attack mode and laid siege to the Barrow goal for the next 3 minutes. However, success down the right wing could not be turned into the first goal of an unlikely comeback as both Madden and Sarcevic were so petrified of being caught offside that they had stopped making runs into the box. This inability to back themselves was almost punished by Barrow the second they broke the siege lines. Barrow surged forward and when the initial chance went begging Stockport eventually cleared it straight back too them. They recycled it to Whitfield on the right wing and his pitch perfect cross to the back post was fired into the side-netting by Gordon.
By this point of the match Stockport’s heads were down and their faith in themselves in-front of goal was at an all time low. They were still getting into good positions in the final third but the crosses into good areas were arriving to find them as deserted as a sauna in a heatwave. County had monopolised possession of the ball as the game ticked past the half-hour mark and so it was only fitting that when Barrow scored their third goal in 33 minutes it stemmed from a Stockport mistake. A lacklustre clearance from the defence landed at the feet of Waters, who advanced to the edge of the box before rifling the ball into the bottom left corner. The Bluebirds were now soaring away to what looked like an easy win over the Hatters, who were getting a baptism of fire on their return to the EFL.
Despite their dominance of possession and multiple threatening attacks the host now found themselves trailing by 3 goals and looking like conceding every time their opponents got the ball. The worst news for the hosts was that there was still another 10 minutes of the half to go. Respite would arrive in the 35th minute though as Foley went down with a head injury that required bandaging up. Foley was able to continue but the break whilst he was treated gave the players the chance to take on fluids and for the host it gave them a chance to regroup and find a way to make it to the break without conceding any more.
To be fair to the hosts they managed to reach the break without suffering any further damage to the scoreline, but Dave Challinor still had one hell of a team talk on his hands at half-time if he was to inspire a comeback from his team. Six minutes of added time was negotiated before half-time without any major problems for the hosts. Stockport raced down the tunnel, just glad that the half was now over and they had a full 15 minutes to work out what had been going wrong. Hopefully for all the home fans they would also work out how to be first to any of the second balls in the second half.
Two changes to the Stockport’s personnel at the break heralded a seismic shift in the trajectory of the match in the second half. Callum Camps and Joe Lewis were the players sacrificed by Challinor and in their place he brought on James Brown and Myles Hippolyte. At the time I was thinking that it would probably work better if the hosts had been able to make 10 changes, but the two that they did make made such a huge difference to the play in the second half.
Having been so unspeakably dreadful in-front of goal in the first half, it took a measly two minutes for the Hatters to get a goal back and fire up the comeback train. I do not know what Challinor said to the team at half-time but I’d love to hear it next time I’m in a situation that seems hopeless, cause it worked a treat.
The hosts first goal of the half came from a ball round the corner to Madden in the the left channel. He slid the ball across the box for Sarcevic to turn home in the centre. The feeling around me in the crowd when the ball hit the back of the net was a mix of relief, unbridled joy and determination that this would not be a flash in the pan. It would instead be the start of a brilliant comeback.
Stockport now looked like they were going to score every time they came forward as they upped the pace of their attacks, from arthritic slug to a cheetah launched from an F1 car, and it was causing Barrow all sorts of problems. The wings were still their greatest source of chances and in the 55th minute they created a beautiful one as Hippolyte played Ryan Rydel into space down the left. His cross into the box was deflected away from the blue shirts waiting in the area though and the keeper was able to pouch it.
The stream of chances that Stockport were creating had now developed into a tidal wave the Barrow were drowning under. Despite their 2 goal cushion the away end was a sea of faces etched with worry. The Cumbrians just had no answer for the questions that were now being asked of them. I was now expecting Stockport to score on every single attack and it looked like that was an expectation that the Barrow players shared.
Responding to seeing his team fade from the game this half Pete Wild decided to dip into his resources on the bench in an attempt to shore up the defence and stop the tidal wave making landfall in his team’s goal once more. Josh Kay was the player sent on to shore things up, but the player taken off was a huge surprise, Ben Whitfield. He had been the main threat all match for the visitors and the best way to break the opposition’s momentum in a match is to put their defence under pressure. Taking off the one man that had been behind all of their excellent play in the first half seemed a strange way for Barrow to achieve that with 22 minutes left to play. So it proved to be as just a minute after this change was made the Hatters had their second goal.
Stockport’s second goal came through their captain, Paddy Madden. The ball made its way out to the right and when the cross came in there were 4 Stockport players lining up to head it home. Madden won the race to the header, guiding it across the goal and in to the back of the net by the left post. Farman in the Barrow goal stood no chance of getting to the header from point blank range and Stockport were back within a single goal of taking a point from this match that they never looked like getting as they struggled to get a foothold in the game in the first half.
It was a testament to County’s dominance since half-time that it took till the 73rd minute for Barrow to have their first chance of the half. If the visitors had been able to slot it home that would have sealed their victory and robbed the match of its grandstand finish. Thankfully, for everyone except the visiting fans, they could only hit it into the side netting.
Before their second goal Stockport made their third change of the match as Ryan Rydel made way for home favourite Ollie Crankshaw. This added to injury stoppages in the final 15 minutes, Josh Gordon going down twice in his own half and Sam Foley having his own time on the turf too, led to 6 minutes of stoppage time at the end of the 90. The 6 minutes of stoppage time at the end of the first half had been torturous for the home fans, but now it would be the visiting fans time to suffer.
Before we get to that though there was another substitution to take note of from each team, the hosts looking to bring on goal threats as the visitors looked to maintain their slim lead. The Hatters’ gambit was bringing on Scott Quigley for Macauley Southam-Hales, whilst the Bluebirds replaced Josh Gordon with ex-Hatter John Rooney. This scared some of the fans around me as “our old players always score against us”. There was no need to worry this time round though as Barrow never looked like threatening in the 9 minutes he was on the pitch.
County were the only team that ever looked like scoring in the second half and it looked like they had their equaliser multiple times. The closest they came to getting it in the regulation 90 was from a freekick that was fired into the box from the right. Will Collar directed a powerful header toward goal that looked to be nestling in the back of the net, but instead it squirmed out to Horsfall in the 6 yard box who could only poke it into the side netting. It looked like it was in from my vantage point and the fans around me had started the party when it dawned on us that the net was rippling from the wrong side.
The penultimate minute of the half resulted in a penalty call that went begging. Southam-Hales was felled in the box by Tyrell Warren but when the ref blew his whistle he was giving Barrow a freekick. Madden was given a yellow card for descent, but it looked like a stonewall pen to me so his questioning of the decision that went against his team was perfectly justified.
Then in the second minute of added-on time Stockport were awarded a penalty as Niall Canavan dragged down Horsfall as they both went for a header on the edge of the 6 yard box. It looked like less of a shout that the Southam-Hales one a few minutes earlier but it was given. Then it was taken away as the ref’s arm went up to indicate an offside in the build-up. I was completely bamboozled by this incredible turn of events and it took me till the final minute of the 6 to work out exactly what had happened.
Where the offside call from and who it was against I have absolutely no idea, but all that really mattered was that Stockport went from having a gilt-edged chance to equalise from the spot to having it ripped from under them in the blink of an eye. To have the rug pulled out from under you like that send your whole world into a spin where you don’t know which way is up. The Hatters couldn’t recover from that turn of events long enough to score the equaliser that their second half play merited.
A grandstand finish was brought to the most disappointing end possible, as Stockport fell agonisingly short of the equaliser that would have secured their first goal of the match and send the home stands into raptures. The aura of disappointment that permeated the home fans at the final whistle speaks to the incredible turn around that their team had effected in the second half.
In the first half the hosts played like a team destined for relegation and in the second half they played like one that will push for the play-offs. The majority of the 10,011 fans that were stuffed inside Edgeley Park will be hoping that it will be the latter side of the team that dominates their matches to come and that Stockport were up at the top end of the table in May.
Starting a new job tomorrow so I have no idea when I will next make it to a game, but when I make it to one the blog will be back.
Also, I just want to say CONGRATULATIONS to the Lionesses for their victory over Germany at Wembley today. ENGLAND ARE THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS!!!!!
Here’s to hoping that they can go all the way at next summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand too, but for now just enjoy the celebrations ladies.
The Football tourist 