Stockport County 4 Accrington Stanley 2 ( Football League 2) Saturday 20 April 2024

A friend captured the situation nicely as we both descended the steps at the Cheadle End “ there are not many days like that” he said ,and he hit the spot perfectly, we had both just come away from a County game that finished as a party as County disposed of the challenge from Accrington Stanley with a comfortable 4-2 win, and the old place dissolved in a glorious mix of excitement, and emotion as the blues were presented with the League 2 Championship trophy!

I say that it was comfortable, but I thought Accrington made a good fist of competing at times, in the end beaten by another clutch of top-class goals- 2 from Wootton , who I thought edged M.O.M ,and one each from Evans and Sarcevic which did the biz for Dave Challinor`s boys.

Their 8^th win in succession took County`s points tally with one match remaining to a mammoth 92 points- still 7 clear of the rest and set up a spectacularly good party on the pitch after the final whistle -more on this later in the report including a few short video clips which hopefully give a hint of the colour of the occasion!

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Back at 3 o`clock , County were welcomed onto the pitch by a guard of honour provided by Accrington Stanley- a nice touch!

Then we had a match on our hands and Accrington thought that they drew first blood by making County attack the Cheadle End first off.

And attack it ( the Cheadle End that is ) they did ,with Louie Barry looking in really lively form seeing an early exhibition of magic from him result in a Wootton shot being charged down in front of goal.

The first 4 minutes were all County , much of it running via Barry- the 2^nd minute enlivened by the sight of the Villa loanee skipping through red shirt after red shirt on the edge of the box, his cross lumped into the Pop Side by Whalley.

County had a corner not long after that action and Conneely , the Stanley captain, did well to keep a Knoyle ball from reaching Wootton who looked goal hungry for the blues.

The period of pressure ended with Sarcevic lifting a shot over the bar.

Did I say the pressure was off the visitors ? Well ,it wasn`t and Wootton was oh so near to nicking one again 2 minutes later- only excellent play by Brad Hills kept an Evans pass from him.

This was looking really good from County`s viewpoint and it got better as Barry`s imperious form continued as he glided by a clutch of defenders leaving them for dead before slipping the ball inside to Wootton who beat off the challenges of a host of red shirts to open the scoring for the blues!

That was an excellent finish and to be one up inside 10 minutes was excellent too!

Accrington continued to be severely stressed- under pressure with County looking comfortable and looking to make matters worse for them- Pye picking Wootton out with an immaculate long ball. Wootton took the short route to Madden which was the right thing to do but for the presence of Brad Hills and he did just enough to nullify the threat from the County skipper.

We were beyond the quarter hour before Accrington could reply and they did it rather well.

Firstly, they sought for a County weakness, but watched disappointed to see Jack Nolan`s shot fly out beyond Hinchliffe`s far post.

Then they kept the pressure on , persisting…not giving ground to County and suddenly it was not a great surprise to see Shaun Whalley `s sharp strike from close in make it 1-1 !

County responded but Horsfall found Row R with his shot on the break failing to ignore Cheadle Ends` plaintiff cries of “shoot…shoot!”

No matter, Horsfall has had a colossally good season and he and Pye showed us some of their best stuff next with a vital block each as Accrington sought to keep County pinned back.

It got a touch soporific for a time after that last action- the next significant play seeing a shot from Madden fly just wide after Wootton`s run had been blocked by the determined Stanley rearguard.

Hills was proving a major asset for Stanley keeping all that County could throw his way at bay, and he did it again on 36 minutes rescuing his team with a superb intervention that stopped the inventive Madden from picking out Evans in front of goal.

That was frustrating for the blues and more followed 3 minutes later and Hills was again County`s tormentor blocking Madden`s shot after much good work by Barry.

Then County upped their revs in response - Sarcevic and Barry cutting a significant swathe through the visitors cover to the extent that a goal looked imminent, until Wootton`s shot went the wrong side of keeper Videk`s left hand post.

We were almost at the end of normal time when County squared the circle- Sarcevic starting it off with a terrific ball to Madden who drifted wide taking his cover with him, crossing with great accuracy to where Evans lurked midst a forest of red. It was a chance, but needed scoring for sure and Evans took the chance perfectly from close in- County had their lead back on the stroke of half time.

There was added time to get through, 5 minutes of it, and Accrington did press a fair bit during that period – County perhaps fortunate not to lose their lead as Leigh failed to take advantage of a gift from Madden 3 minutes beyond the 45.

It was still 2-1 to County as the teams went in at the break .

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Half Time Entertainment comes from Richard Thompson……

https://youtu.be/8rwUjYNfP4c?si=JsCji3V0bBNavWeI

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The re-start saw County make changes as Barry, Briscow, Camps and Madden gave way for Bailey , Hippolyte Croasdale and Powell.

Not much of significance happened for the first 5 minutes of the half- the first excitement a shot for Stanley that Alex Henderson dragged wide of target.

County looked a tad off the boil for a time ,their cohesion disrupted by the new faces.

This notionally afforded Stanley more time on the ball but there was no great sign that they were going to take advantage of this – O`Brien making it to the by-line with a lively run and then watching helplessly as his cross was disposed of by the waiting Horsfall.

“ Stand up for the Champions” boomed the Cheadle End as the breaking Powell won County a corner, but County couldn`t make the flag kick count- Videk punching the ball clear under pressure.

It all got a touch end to end for a while next as Accrington substitute Dan Martin almost squeezed a spectacular shot from distance home- only foiled by Hinchliffe`s diving save that saw the ball pushed round the post.

County made a break from the corner ,Bailey finding Evans with a neat pass, but the visiting keeper`s brave save won him the one on one that followed!

If that was disappointing, County`s blues ended at that point as Powell produced a wonderful pass delivering the ball on a sixpence to Hippolyte far up field. That was awesome and Hippolyte kept the good stuff going with a first time cross of some quality that ended with the fast-arriving Wootton diving to head County into a 3-1 lead!

Some goal was that !

County took control again keeping Accrington under constant pressure- Bailey twice close without causing Videk nightmares.

Evans had a shot saved by Videk also , as the keeper continued to frustrate the blues.

Stanley had the odd moment on the break most notably via another substitute Joe Pritchard, but he watched distressed to see his cross get no takers on the end of a decent run from him with 15 minutes left.

Then, as another break by Bailey fizzled out for County, Stanley did the unexpected and scored on the break.

I am not sure what was happening at the back for County at that moment, but they were seemingly helpless when Nolan decided an improbable shot was on and he hit it goalward the ball sneaking just inside Hinchliffe`s left hand post- it was 3-2 and looking to be much more of a game now.

Accrington looked to be suitably encouraged by that goal , but less so a minute later when O`Brien missed the target when reasonably well set.

Then from being on the attack Accrington had defending to think about but they appeared to have been caught napping and ,in no-time Bailey found Sarcevic whose clinical finish saw the blues 2 goal lead re-established at 4-2.

The rest of the game largely took place in Stanley`s half – Videk working hard to deny County after Bailey had had his ankles tapped setting the blues up with a free kick that the keeper saw off nicely.

Videk was again in action just a minute from the end of normal time somehow keeping a shot from Hippolyte out from close in.

And again, a minute later Videk excelled blocking Hippolyte`s dangerous looking run bravely after a brilliant run and pass from Rico Richards who was on for Knoyle.

The game ended with Sarcevic and Wootton trying without success to nick a fifth goal .

No one minded , they wanted to see County receive the Championship trophy, and boy were the County supporters brilliant in this regard- disciplined and yet still fully able to enjoy the celebration from the stands!

The presentation and celebration that followed were superbly managed and went off brilliantly- congrats to all concerned!

Here are a couple of short videos from hedgegrower which I hope give you a flavour of this great occasion!

On to Wrexham then for the final game of a tumultuously successful season.

Hope to see you there!

Oh.....just to say that I thought that the `Welcome to Stockport` raspberry delivered by the Blue & White Army to Sky Sports & EFL suits yesterday was just about the perfect response !

Stockport County line up :-

Hinchliffe , Knoyle ( Richards 73) , Horsfall , Pye , Bristow ( Hippolyte 46) , Camps ( Powell 46) , Sarcevic , Evans , Madden ( Croasdale 46) , Wootton , Barry ( Bailey 46).

Subs not used Smith , Byrne.

Accrington Stanley line up :-

Videk , Shipley , Hills , Whalley( Pritchard 69 ) , Gubbins , Nolan ( J Woods 87 ) , Leigh , Conneely ( B Woods 69), Henderson ( Lowe 79 ) , O`Brien .Coyle.

Subs not used :- Gavin , Quirk , Martin .

Attendance: 10120

hedgegrower

Gallery of shots by Andrew Machin ( more possibly tomorrow)……..