Stockport County 2 Peterborough United 1 ( Football League 1 ) Friday 20 December 2024

 

 

County`s long suffering fans were made to suffer some more last night as County took their time to dispose of the challenge of Darren Ferguson`s Peterborough United side.

They started well enough , Odin Bailey  newly restored to first team action, giving them the lead , with an opportunist goal 10 minutes in, from Louie Barry`s free kick.

But it all rather went off the boil for County 10 minutes later as Posh, who had been prone to giving the ball away under pressure, started to venture up the park- eventually snatching a well worked equaliser with less than 10 minutes to half time.

Much of what followed was not that great to watch ……enter Tanto with just over 20 minutes left to play and within 5 minutes he had turned frowns to smiles and County had their lead via a superb back of the box strike !

It was hard work at times but `a win is a win` as `the man` said …..and we will most definitely take it , and this one , imperfect or not ,keeps County in fifth place in League 1 !

 

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County set off clearly looking to make an impression – Bate was snatching possession from nowt….Touray was on the front foot trying to link with Barry, and the result was an apparently nervy Posh were struggling to hold onto the ball.

The first 3 minutes saw an unfortunate product from this struggle as the visitors opted for a series of  poor fouls that did not augur well for what was to come from them.

County made nothing from the free kicks but kept pressing- Touray`s cross deserving better , 5 minutes in, flying across goal unattended.

The right side of the Posh rearguard was under the cosh , the pressure fed by a welter of misplaced passes , but could County capitalise on them?

 Barry and Wootton got a shot and header in respectively but both went wide.

Then Camps took a hand holding onto the ball and running with it , and sure enough when he neared the box he was brought down in peremptory fashion.

County had a free  kick- it was widish left  but there was a sight of goal and more than that as Karma took a hand and Barry hit the kick low and hard into the box where  Odin Bailey found the Posh net with a cool finish.

That was so pleasing to see another poor foul actually punished !

County had their 1-0 lead , but we got a hint of a response from Peterborough , 5 minutes later, as Macauley Southam- Hales had to pull out all the stops to block a break by Malik Mothersille, and usher the ball back to Ben Hinchliffe.

Mainly though, County were in control, but a second goal proved elusive- Bate dragging a lack lustre effort wide after doing excellent work in the build-up.

 A neat move involving Collar and Wootton promised much until Woots was obstructed by Oscar Wallin and Posh struggled to clear the free kick as Camps lifted it into the box – Bate adding fuel to County`s fire with a neat ball to Collar, who looked on disappointedly to see his shot saved by keeper Nicholas Bilokapic.

We were almost 20 minutes in now, and by this point County`s ball retention began to mirror Posh`s with possession spilled too often for comfort , and Joel Randall tried to capitalise – a tasty run thankfully cut out by good defensive work from Fraser Horsfall.

But the blues kept probing for that second goal via Wootton and Barry  but as the latter made headway down the left, he was brought down – we had a notional chance from the free kick which slipped away like winter sunshine as Bate`s set piece made no impression on the visitors back line.

County were still in control , but no nearer to adding another goal- Barry way out with his latest effort on 27 minutes, and alarmingly started to indulge in a period of laboured passing at the back that too often ended with the ball back to Hinchliffe instead of in Posh faces at the other end.

This went on for 5 minutes, and another 2 saw us reap the whirlwind as Cian Hayes was allowed to run clear into the box where he picked out Joel Randall who made swift work of beating Hinchliffe with a firm strike.

County were undone , and Posh tried to twist the metaphoric knife as Ricky- Jade Jones latched onto Hector Kyprianou`s neat pass to round  Hinchliffe but, looking likely to score – he was ultimately done by the angle to goal and County were relieved to see Horsfall put the ball out for a corner- that Ben caught to applause.

We so needed a response from the blues, and one came via a terrific run by Barry – the shot drifted wide , but that was what was required- that and a shade of good fortune!

But we also needed an alert response in midfield and at the back but the next action was at the `wrong end` again as with no challenge in sight , Cian Hayes, again the recipient of a quality ball from Kyprianou, found himself in the box and well set  to ruin County`s day, but somehow the moment told on him and he found the side netting with his shot- we had escaped!

Much of the rest of the half was ( happily perhaps) mundane in nature but we did see another indication of Posh``s oft times intemperate approach to discipline , which to be truthful looked entirely absent when a run by Louie Barry was summarily cut short by an appalling foul on the County man by Hector Kyprianou.

Kyprianou was booked but a yellow looked to be an entirely inappropriate response from Referee Lewis Smith .

Thankfully that action ended the half , the teams going in with the score still 1-1.

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The second half opened with County again seeking a second goal that would give them back their lead , but after Barry had won a corner, keeper Bilokapic made short work of Touray`s deflected shot.

Then …more Karma as Hector Kyprianou , who had maintained a veritable limpathon since his efforts to lay Louie Barry out came to pass late in the first half  gaining zero sympathy from County fans, sank to the floor for the final time before being subbed off to less of a communal SK3 raspberry than he perhaps deserved!

Meanwhile County`s game was not showing signs of improving ,as  that annoying tendency to seem utterly unsure of what you should be doing with the ball surfaced again,  culminating time after time with a pass that served only to put Hinchliffe under pressure , and our discipline was no better as Bate and Bailey were booked for silly infringements.

Thankfully Posh were back to giving the ball away with very welcome pre-Xmas abandon- but could County use these moments to their advantage?

Touray did try getting a decent cross in following a neat run down the left, but it ended badly for County when its recipient Lewis Bate lifted his shot amongst us in Row R !

Then we saw both teams get nowhere with the referee with cheap theatricals – the last one of these by Collar seeing Posh surge clear when the ref waved play on.

This was a bad moment for County`s back line and they had to work hard to block efforts by both Randall and De Havilland who had carved great holes in the blue cover allowing Jones to put Hinchliffe  under severe pressure.

We got  a brief glimpse of something better as Wootton was played clear, but the Danny Stand liner`s flag ended that moment badly for County - Woots adjudged to be offside.

Then , with just over 20 minutes left to play , DC brought Tanto on for Camps.

There wasn`t an immediate dividend from this as the next action saw a Barry run end with Horsfall heading the ball back and down to Randall who sent Hayes darting clear at speed. It was a potentially iffy moment for the blues but saved as Hayes, upon reaching the edge of the box, ran out of ideas and was dispossessed.

 

Cue the Tanto divi, and it started within 5 minutes of his arrival, as a lively run by Louie Barry took him to the by-line where he drilled a smart ball low and hard across goal picking Tanto at the back of the box where he promptly drilled an unstoppable shot into the net!

County had their lead, and Tanto had set the stadium alight with joy which briefly changed to anger as Fernandez earned a booking – red most in the Cheadle End thought but Mr Smith thought yellow.

I did not see the fracas as I was busy making a `failed` attempt to video the Tanto song- I got some of the response to the fracas which I give you here in a short vid with apologies…..

 

 

 

County set about trying to increase their lead in what remained of the game – Bailey doing well on the break but , having passed to Barry and looked for a return pass that did not show up, looked on disappointedly to see Barry opt to shoot himself -blazing the ball into the Cheadle End.

Still the blues pushed for that second though, and I thought we had a valid shout for a penalty 2 minutes later as the ball was lifted into the box where Wootton went for it with Nevett and Katongo – the keeper adding another element. I swear that Nevett hooked the ball clear with his arm- clear as day, but the Referee was having none of it- no penalty apparently!

The ref then went on to embarrass himself with a couple of ludicrous free kicks against Tanto that frankly beggared belief!

No matter we were still leading albeit we now had 7 minutes added time to envisage( Kyprianou`s legacy!).

Tanto was in terrific form in this , doing good work at the back to keep Posh at bay, and more good stuff at the other end where sadly he found no support – De Havilland able to clear the danger  for Posh.

A silly foul by Woots late on gave Posh the whiff of a late chance via the free kick, but Hinchliffe saw the danger off , and eventually Mr S blew for time and an important win had been secured.

Not pretty , but I am not going to labour that - rather being relieved that we got the points that keep us up there at the right end of the table.

See you in the Cowshed on Thursday then !

Stockport County line up:-

 Hinchliffe, Touray, Bate, Camps (Olaofe 69), Southam-Hales, Collar ( Connolly 80), Pye, Horsfall, Wootton, Barry (Knoyle 86), Bailey ( Norwood 86).

Subs not used : Addai, Diamond, Rydel.

Peterborough United line up :-

 Bilokapic, Katongo, Fernandez, Wallin (Nevett 46), Mills ( Adebisi 77), De Havilland, Kyprianou ( O’Brien-Brady 49), Randall, Mothersille, Jones ( Odoh 71), Hayes ( Conn-Clarke 77).

Subs not used: Blackmore, Dornelly.

 

Attendance : 9745 ( 765)

hedgegrower

 

Additional Gallery from @machinsports