Oldham Athletic 1 Stockport County 0 ( Pre-Season Friendly) Saturday 13 July 2024

County`s second pre-season outing saw them lose out to a lively Oldham Athletic side at Boundary Park today.

County never really established any command of the proceedings ,indeed Latics just might feel slightly miffed at the 1-0 score-line at games end- they had Ben Hinchliffe to blame for this for a second half super save that stopped Micky Mellon`s team from doubling their lead.

Keepers Corey Addai and Ben Hinchliffe who took a half each, were arguably the pick for County – Camps showed his usual drive and flair when he came on ( until he went off following a bit of a clattering from someone in blue)and Triallist A showed he could do a shift but after that there was not a lot to report from what it must be conceded is a very early outing indeed and in a format unlikely to coax the best from County .

Oldham by contrast looked to have been well served by their pre-season being just back from Scotland .

Their side had a decent number of ex Hatters within it- Liam Hogan, Alex Reid and Mark Kitching through whom all the best of Latics moves were directed at or by- they looked pretty good too ,and I wish them well for the coming season!

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I was Inside Boundary Park when the gates opened , but I found my unaccustomed good humour threatened by the turnstile operator`s inability to get his 21^st century gear to recognise my e-ticket. By the time he gave up and let me in anyway I had missed the rush towards `Stadi-Yum` and opted for continued hunger as I was sure the match would offer great compensations!

It didn’t….indeed inside a minute County were wading waist deep in the brown stuff as our left flank was terrorised into conceding a silly free kick. Tom Conlon lifted this at speed into the box where Mark Kitching`s header flew beyond Addai into the net- we were 1-0 down!

County did their best to work their way back into the game after this with Lewis Bate looking to take charge in midfield . Odin Bailey was looking interested also as was Jack Diamond whose speed momentarily seemed to unsettle Latics, but when all the good work came to where it mattered Fiorini`s free kick just missed out.

Meanwhile Kitching was on fire for Latics winning a corner one minute that saw them go close to doubling their advantage- Addai`s quick thinking set up a possible chance from this action , sending Diamond clear with support beginning to show wide to his left- but we had to settle for a corner that came to nought and any perceived chance was no more.

County kept plugging away- Woots heading wide from a decent cross from Trialist A who was wearing 11. But again we flattered to deceive as having set a free kick up, Bailey`s effort flew narrowly wide with Latics keeper Matt Hudson diving anxiously in its direction.

But Latics were intent on getting on the front foot none more so than Kitching whose excellent work teed Kay up with a chance that saw his shot narrowly miss the target.

Half time could not come soon enough for County but still Latics threatened via a neat move involving Lundstrom , Hammond and Kay ending with Kay`s cross millimetres away from the onrushing Fondop- the half ending with Corey Addai making a fingertip save to keep another Kay effort out!

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The re-start saw Hinchliffe, Connolly, Touray, Okeke and Camps on for Addai ,Knoyle, Pye, Fiorini and Trialist B.

Trialist A ( 11) continued to put himself in good positions being unlucky to see Matt Hudson cut his cross out 5 minutes into the second half .

County kept the pressure on- Diamond combining to good effect with Camps whose shot was held comfortably by Hudson.

Shaun Hobson then fouled Camps ushering in a notional chance that drifted away with Diamond`s kick that drifted out beyond the back post.

And, when County relaxed , Latics didn`t instead looking far livelier than was good for us.

And things almost went from bad to worse when again Kitching took us apart with a near perfect ball that teed Hammond up with what looked a shoo-in with only the keeper to beat.

Hmm……” only the keeper to beat” anyone see the flaw in that sad prose? The keeper of course was Ben Hinchliffe and although the ball flew at breathtaking speed from Hammond`s head netwards…so Ben threw himself upwards and back wards to tip the ball over the bar- a fantastic goal preventing save …wow !

Both teams made shed loads of changes at this point .

If it was possible to say that the Latics impetus was disrupted following this, with Liam Hogan now in the centre of their defence they looked fairly solid at the back too.

Alex Reid meanwhile was looking to mark our cards but his run with around 15 minutes left was cut short by Connolly`s peremptory foul. If Oldham felt that the free kick offered them a chance- it probably did but again they had not factored Ben Hinchliffe into their assessment ,and he made short work of the kick that was lofted towards the back of the box.

County did net the ball with 10 minutes left only to see the liners flag waving in the cooling afternoon air.

The game meandered to a conclusion- County trying to get that important equaliser whilst Latics looked to thwart our every move.

In this respect Lady Luck`s swinging accessory headed County way as Camps took a nasty knock and had to be subbed late on.

Even later on, Reid could be seen trying to make County`s day even worse by adding a goal – he did well, his shot was true but so was Hinchliffe`s response and Reid was denied splendidly.

County continued to work at getting something from the game but without ever really coming close to doing so.

I said it earlier this is too soon in County`s pre-season to reach heady conclusions. Let’s say `well done` to Latics and wish them well in their season and look to our lads to show us what they can do when it matters far more than it did today!

Oh, and a word about the travelling support today- 883 ……883 !!!...absolutely excellent, well done one and all !

Oldham Athletic line up:-

Hudson (Trialist C 71), Kitching (Doro 60), Hobson (Hogan 60), Monthe (Sutton 60), Charsley (Gardner 46), Lundstram, Fondop (Willoughby 60), Conlon (Trialist A 57), Kay (Moore 60), Raglan (Uchegbulam 60), Hammond (Reid 60).

Stockport County line up:

Addai (Hinchliffe 46), Knoyle (Connolly 46), Hughes (Collar 61), Diamond (Gardner 61), Wootton (Trialist D. 61), Trialist A (Hillary 61), Pye (Touray 46), Trialist B (Camps 46), Bailey (Trialist C 61), Fiorini (Okeke 46), Bate (Johnson 61).

Attendance : 2187 ( 883)

hedgegrower

Some more photos from hedgegrower…………….