Stockport County 1-3 Stevenage: Stevenage Drive the Hatters Mad
Credit: Thomas McAtee / shutterstock.com
These two were some of the early frontrunners in League One this season, but their form has dipped as of late. With both sides dangling at the edge of the play-offs and some big teams nipping at their heels, this game was a huge opportunity to take a defibrillator to their season and get themselves back into the race for promotion.
After their play-off semi final defeat last time out, many expected Stockport to be back up challenging at the top end of the division again this year. Stevenage, however, have performed well above expectations. They finished 14th and 21 points shy of a play-off position last season and didn't exactly have a blockbuster summer, but Alex Revell has led his side to an odds-busting season opening and they currently sit 5 points and 2 games in hand clear of Luton in 7th. Win their game in hand on Bradford by any margin greater than a single goal and they’ll leapfrog them into 2nd too, not bad for little old Boro. They actually topped the table for large swathes of the early-season chaos, tailing off into the play-off race in recent weeks as this victory marks just their second in eight league games. The rest of the league have also faltered at stages and nobody looks like they can easily grab promotion and run with it, so this run hasn’t harmed Stevenage too badly. They’ve managed to draw enough games in the meantime to keep the pace, and a win today has kept them right in the mix for promotion. Of course, victory in Stockport is only worth anything for Boro if they can springboard from this result and get back to winning ways.
Stevenage have, for years now, been rock solid at the back. That’s never been their problem, and they have the best defence in the league by some distance so far this year, it’s the other end of the pitch that causes the Boro fans some stress and discomfort. Prior to this game, they’d scored just twice in their last seven league games. If you aren’t scoring, you aren’t winning, and coming to a tricky ground to visit like Edgley Park without a clear plan as to how they’re going to score goals is a set up for a difficult afternoon in the Greater Manchester sunshine.
Luckily for those of a Stevenage persuasion, Welsh winger Chem Campbell woke up and decided goals aren’t that hard, actually. He received the ball on the right-hand flank and dropped his shoulder to release himself from his marker in to space. From there, he bent a beauty from the edge of the box into the upper left-hand corner far beyond the reach of Ben Hinchcliffe in the Stockport net. If there’s any goal to kickstart your team’s goalscoring form, it’s a 25-yard belter like that one.
Half-time, 1-0 to the visitors. Next up after the break, Jamie Reid. The forward started the season off at a blistering pace, with 5 goals in his first 4 league games. Was this the season that Stevenage’s goalscoring woes finally ended? Well, he managed just one more goal between then and this weekend, so it doesn’t look like it. Number 7 for the season came in front of the travelling faithful early in the second-half. Antiguan full-back Luther Wildin battled hard down the right-hand side and worked the ball well with teammate Louis Thompson to make room for a cross. The ball fizzed along the six-yard box and Reid was there to stab it home to double his side’s lead and hopefully kickstart a fresh bout of goalscoring excellence for himself.
Stockport were left dumbfounded at 2-0, they’d played pretty well and created their fair share of chances against a side that have been struggling for goals, yet they found themselves two down at home and staring over the abyss into mid-table. They needed to dig themselves out of this mess, and dig they did. Substitute Owen Dodgson had possession in the corner on the left-hand side for his team, managing to get his foot under the ball and dig out an inch-perfect cross onto the head of Kyle Wooton. As they say in the business, he doesn’t miss those.
As soon as they had the ball in the net, Stockport made two attacking substitutions. They could smell blood and they were going for it, with half an hour left there may even be time to grab two more goals and all three points. Kick off, keep it tight, win the ball back and get it up the pitch to- Stevenage have scored. Just 6 seconds after the restart, Louis Thompson profited from a defensive mixup as Ethan Pye misjudged a header back to his ‘keeper following a long-ball straight from the Stevenage kick off. The ball dropped between the goalie and Pye, perfectly placed for Thompson to dink it beyond Hinchcliffe, restore his side’s advantage and secure their victory on the road.
Full-time, 3-1 to the visitors and an invaluable three points in Stevenage’s hunt for Championship football. For Stockport, that’s now just one win in eight in all competitions, five of those being league games. If they’re going to build on their play-off failure from last season, and with their significant financial muscle that should be the goal, they’ll need to arrest this slide quickly to avoid ending up chasing the play-off pack from the position of leading it. They have the worst defensive record in the top 6 and they’re only ahead of their opposition Stevenage on goals scored, both ends of the pitch need to sharpen up for the Hatters to carve out a promotion challenge for the remainder of the campaign.
Two sides who hadn’t won in ages and are struggling in front of goal, and yet it produced a classic of the League One genre. This division never disappoints, and there’ll be plenty more twists and turns between now and May. With a gap between the top 6 and the chasing pack slowly beginning to form, will we see either of these sides marching down Wembley Way by the end of the season? Or will they even manage to go one step further and finish in the oh-so-coveted automatic promotion spaces? Whatever happens between now and game 46, to see Stevenage or Stockport in the second tier would be a fantastic achievement for either club and be a breath of fresh air as opposed to the yo-yoing Rotherhams and Wigans of the past.
Boro dug in and drove the Hatters mad at Edgley Park, just how big will this end up being in the context of the League One play-off race?