Notts County 2 Stockport County 5 ( Football League 2) Tuesday 16 April 2024

Champions Again…ole..ole….and we are ..Dave Challinors magnificent Stockport County team, cruelly shorn of their 20 goal striker Tanto Olaofe ,strode majestically to the League 2 title with a rip snortingly superb 5-2 victory away to Notts County at their Meadow Lane home tonight.

County played like true champions throughout taking control of the game early on , a truly excellent hat-trick by the amazing Paddy Madden putting the game beyond Stuart Maynard`s side well before half time.

If tension abounded at the start, by the re-start County supporters were already in celebration mood especially when Sarcevic added a fourth goal 5 minutes into the second 45.

The standard of play…the football from the blues had been exceptional and the work rate too so it was perhaps to be expected that they would relax a touch at that point, but that may be me undervaluing County`s work, when I maybe should give some credit to the Magpies who in a 4-minute spell nicked 2 goals back .

It needed a response from County, and it came in great quantity as their game management principles came into play again nullifying everything Notts could throw at them, emerging late on to end a period of sustained attacking with a fifth goal by Ethan Pye.

As ways to win a championship go, this one is well up with the best- County are easily ,and by a distance, the best team in this division and they proved that conclusively again tonight!

…………………………………………..

The Flyer made it to Meadow Lane in good time, but it was disappointing to see almost 2000 County supporters crammed into just about half of the large Jimmy Sirrel Stand with the remainder totally unpopulated despite being in a secure area!

Abysmal organisation chaps – must do better !

No matter , I eventually found a reasonable vantage spot from which to watch the match, and it looked a bit good from the off!

It was 5 minutes before a chance emerged though and it came County`s way-Powell latching onto a short corner to look to shoot. In the act of shooting, he was `tapped on the ankle` by a Notts defender, going down. “ Penalty !” thought I and approximately 1983 others plus Mr Chilowicz the referee who appeared to have pointed to the spot, but I had apparently hallucinated that happening as no penalty was awarded merely a goal kick.

More `eccentricities` followed from Mr C , playing on my pre-match concerns on his seeming capacity to be a veritable harbinger of doom for ourselves having presided over 2 County defeats already this season.

Well, we will see how this pans out , meanwhile with 10 minutes gone Magpies showed us what they might be able to do and Nemane looked the part making it to the by-line before playing it inside to the prolific Macauley Langstaff who promptly blotted his copy book by dragging a poor effort wide.

It was probably 5 more minutes before County came back at Notts via Bristow who looked in imperious form down the left his cross somehow ushered out for a corner by Cameron. Former County loanee Luca Ashby- Hammond punched the kick out for Notts only for Bristow to repeat the process forcing another corner.

The delivery by Sarcevic was perfect as was Horsfall`s header from it but the ball crashed against the bar and went to safety with Ashby-Hammond and his fellow defenders aghast!

That was a real escape for Magpies but County had to forget their disappointment and go again, but this was easier said than done as Notts wanted some of the action themselves- Powell doing well for County to block a dangerous run from McGoldrick 19 minutes in- Hinchliffe earning applause from the County support for a fine save to deny the nippy Nemane two minutes later.

Thereafter County set about establishing command and they were exceedingly unlucky to see Sarcevic pulled up by a very late offside flag when well set on 25 minutes.

Any disappointment over that last action did not linger long indeed , within a minute County had the lead!

It started with Baldwin losing possession to Wootton who probably dedicated his pass on to Madden to the half-wits within the home specs who booed him early doors. It was a neat pass and Madden set the away end alight with a superb finish !

County were 1 up , not cruising perhaps but looking confident!

They were also very much on the attack- a corner being awarded by Mr C who was clearly not paying attention in the build up when Horsfall was hauled down in the box. No matter County kept at it- Madden and Wootton both going close but eventually foiled by the Notts keeper.

We were beyond the half hour now and County were again pushing on via Evans who was turning the left side of the home defence inside out , cutting inside setting up a shot by Powell that came out off a defender to Sarcevic whose goal bound effort was kept out by Crowley`s hand.

It was a clear penalty and Mr C gave it , Madden stepping up to calmly slam the ball home!

County now had a 2-0 lead and one hand on the Championship trophy.

They were turning the magic on as well – Evans and Sarcevic joined by Powell tearing great lumps out of the Notts cover – Wootton was millimetres away from adding County`s third goal on the end of Powell`s pass.

It was not quite all County- Horsfall was called on twice to head clear as the home team sought to get back into the game.

But it was not their day, County were unstoppable- even a crude foul on Sarcevic ( seen but not acted upon by the referee) could prevent him from sending a fantastic ball straight to Madden. There was still stuff to do by Paddy, but he dwelt not upon the execution instead squeezing a delicious effort between keeper and his near post- it was 3-0 – Paddy had another hat-trick and County were well in command for sure!

That said we had to guard against complacency, but Hinchliffe was called on to make a good save to stop Mc Goldrick nicking one back for Notts after being put through by a poor ball from Powell.

Four minutes added time came and went with no addition to the score- the sides going in with County still leading 3-0.

…………………………………

Now, we haven`t had any Tatiana Eva- Marie for a while so hedgegrower puts that right in Half Time Entertainment- enjoy……

https://youtu.be/-uYVnqOdr9s?si=8SG9U_D6TJFJu9q9

…………………………….

The first 5 minutes of the second half were quite eventful with excitement at both ends involving Sarcevic who I think has been generally outstanding recently.

But the first action was not great from him as he gifted possession to Langstaff . The home specs were already hyper ventilating before their number 9 had fully controlled the gift, they thought with understandable confidence that their top scorer would do the biz .

Langtaff certainly looked the part….got a decent shot off , only for Hinchliffe to pull off a fine diving save to deny him.

That was a warning for sure!

But within 3 minutes Sarcevic erased the memory in magnificent style cutting in from the left onto Ethan Pye`s pin point pass before curling a lovely finish into the net.

It was 4-0 to County but with 40 minutes still to play there was much still for them to do.

Nothing was working for Notts, no matter how hard they tried.

And then , as if by magic, they scored twice in 3 minutes.

They had just made a triple substitution so fresh legs were on but even so it was a surprise when Langstaff snatched one from nowhere just passed the hour mark.

Horsfall saw a header saved by the Notts keeper after a break by Madden after this , but another surprise came our way as Crowley made up for his earlier bloopers by slotting a firm finish passed Hinchliffe into the net- it was 4-2 now and maybe `game on` bearing in mind our hosts propensity for high scoring games.

It was maybe a test of County`s freshly minted Champions credentials.

By this point we now had Barry and Croasdale on for Madden and Powell- Barry making it to the by -line seeing Wootton a whisker away from ushering his cross home.

County were definitely not going to go defensive – instead piling pressure on the home defence- Horsfall and then Evans going close as Notts struggled to cope defending a rash of County corners.

County were queueing for a shot - Notts were holding out….just and then Sarcevic and Barry in quick succession crashed to the ground in the box- I am not sure which foul he ruled worth a pen but he pointed to the spot and we had one.

But when Barry stepped up to take the kick he hit the ball into the keeper`s right hand post and flew out of harms way- Magpies had escaped!

That might have put wind in Notts` sails but Horsfall did brilliantly in response to keep Crowley`s through ball from the predatory Langstaff with less than 15 left to play.

Into the last 10 minutes of normal time we went with Sarcevic still a force to be reckoned with – foiled by a foul one minute…back to exact a measure of karma the next.

Breaking along with Evans Sarcevic saw Barry`s shot deflected for a corner . Again there was a queue of County players wanting a shot on goal but Pye won the lottery heading Barry`s cross firmly home to seal a great victory.

There was time for Hippolyte to come on for Camps who had played another blinder……for Sarcevic to almost sneak another with the cheekiest of late lobs…..for Jones to be denied by Hinchliffe….for Pye to block Langstaff with a tackle of glorious efficiency and Horsfall to earn more plaudits for a goal line clearance before the celebrations could start and the team and supporters could salute each other in time honoured fashion.

It was a fitting end to a glorious County achievement – I may have over worked that adjective in this report but who cares it was GLORIOUS- what a team- what a performance!

How can they have anything left in their legs on Saturday after that?

Well , I am sure they will amaze us again , and we will all be at Edgeley Park to cheer them on -wont we!

Oh....and I didn`t mention that ,amongst my layers last night.......

.....is all !

Notts County line up :-

Ashby-Hammond , Cameron , Baldwin , Brindley , Jones , Nemane , Bostock ( Randall 57) , Austin( O`Brien 57) , Crowley , McGoldrick ( Robertson 57), Langstaff.

Subs not used :-

Slocombe , Mahovo , Scott , Colkett.

Stockport County line up :-

Hinchliffe , Knoyle , Horsfall , Pye , Bristow , Camps ( Hippolyte 84) , Sarcevic , Powell ( Croasdale 64) , Evans , Wootton , Madden ( Barry 64).

Subs not used : Smith , Byrne , Richards , Bailey .

Attendance : 11656 ( 1984)

The Additional Gallery starts with some from hedgegrower.....