Stockport County 1 Mansfield Town 2 ( Football League 1 ) Saturday 4 January 2025

 

 

 

 

 

County slumped to dismal defeat at the hands of their perennial tormentors Mansfield Town at Edgeley Park today.

The old place was packed to the rafters again but County`s performance offered the crowd very thin gruel indeed instead of the glorious feast hinted at on Wednesday against league leaders Birmingham City.

Sadly, the blues never attained anything like Wednesday`s heights of performance- unable to disrupt the ultimate disrupters, throughout a game too full of dark arts  to be enjoyable.

Having  gone behind 12 minutes in, County then went and scored the best goal of the game- constructed by Odin Bailey and Kyle Wootton / put away expertly by Will Collar.

I was tempted , at that point, to think good things were on the way, but it was a chimera , County leaking the winning goal before half time.

Neither Mansfield goals reflected particularly well on our back line , which rather raises the question` why change what did so well just a few days ago?

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The stadium was packed when the game started- the Railway End  chocker with Stag fans, and they made considerably more noise than had Brum followers on Wednesday.

The early action saw Camps to the fore  for County, but he failed to crown useful work with  a goal, his shot just a minute in, drifting wide.  

There was an early indication as to how Nigel Clough`s side would go about things, as Hiram Boeteng went right through Ryan Rydel with the ball long gone.

I felt that foul was bad enough to see Boeteng walk , but despite it all happening under the nose of the Danny Stand liner , Referee James Durkin unbelievably contented himself with awarding County a free kick ( far enough back not to matter).

That was annoying, the next action was distressing as Will Evans ( another yellow shirted player who would go on to greatly annoy the majority of the 10000 watching) was able to sneak clear down our left – his shot went wide , but had he taken a moment……

I had just reconciled myself to that early trauma when County tempted fait again as Hughes gave the ball away  in ludicrously slack fashion, and Town`s forward push was aided again, via a free kick , as Connolly upended Aaron Lewis in plain sight of the ref .

Thankfully the blues saw the free kick off, but to say we needed to tighten up is to understate it by a distance.

Mansfield stayed on the front foot – Hughes doing well to keep Baily Cargill`s cross from Lee Gregory- Jordan Bowery sending a volley over the bar in the aftermath.

Camps meanwhile continued to work hard, drawing free kicks at both ends of the park- Christy Pym , the Stags keeper, having little difficulty however in dealing with the follow up to the free kick he gained with an incisive run into the box 11 minutes in.

Another 60 seconds and we had calamity visited upon us as , with Mansfield attacking, a loose header by Pye set Gregory up for the opening goal that he drilled beyond Hinchliffe`s dive into the net ruthlessly!

It took County just 7 minutes to address matters and get the equalising goal , and it was a belter.

Started by Bailey who set it up perfectly  lifting the sweetest of balls across the box to where Wootton met it heading it back to Collar who side footed home .

That was an excellent goal, and suddenly I felt several degrees warmer!

It was 5 minutes before Mansfield responded and again neither Mr Durkin, or his liner, apparently saw the hand to ball moment that occurred as Elliott Hewitt got a cross in from almost underneath the C/E roof- Hughes headed this out – the raid eventually fizzling out when the increasingly annoying Will Evans indulged in some pushing whilst seeking the ball in the box.

No danger then, but in just 2 minutes that prognosis promptly changed.

County were struggling to clear their lines with yellow shirts making the blue box look anything but a `safe zone`. We just needed someone in blue to welly the ball up the park, but instead, Camps chose to  take Aaron Lewis`s legs – about the clearest penalty I`ve seen all season.

So, we were done….dished !?

Well Lee Gregory was probably not alone in thinking that, as he stepped up to take the kick, sending it , hard enough he probably thought, to  Ben`s right , but the County keeper reacted brilliantly , his dive enabling him to push the ball around the post.

That was a superb save, and timely too, we just did not need to go behind at that point, or indeed at any other point – it should inspire County, but would it?

The immediate situation was not greatly encouraging as a push by Connolly put County under the cosh again from the free kick.

The kick was wasted by Town , allowing County to respond but Rydel`s run was cut short just outside the box by a foul ushering in a free kick that Rydel took ,lifting it delightfully into the box where someone in yellow managed to head the ball out for a corner, which Stags survived easily enough.

So, County were trying, and neat work involving Hinchliffe, Collar, Rydel and Bailey ended with Rydel`s cross inches away from setting Collar up for his second goal.

Then it all went off the boil a bit, Mansfield eventually coming back at County through Hewitt who sent Boeteng clear with a neat pass, running on for the expected return which he received but headed wide!

That was not great from County ,but they had survived only for it to all go pear shaped within a minute as their back line and midfield melted away allowing Evans to dart into the box, round Hinchliffe and make it 2-1 to his team!

There was just time for Deji Oshilaja to commit an awful foul on Camps- seen by liner and ref….but again Mr Durkin bottled it , awarding a  free kick but waving yellow in the miscreants direction- a truly abysmal decision, but sadly it was not that surprising !

At half-time then it was County 1 Stags 2

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                          The restart saw Rydel close to an equaliser- his shot flying across goal and out after he had terrorised Hewitt into losing possession.

And the encouraging stuff continued with Southam- Hales closer than Rydel to equalising on the end of a neat cooperation with Wootton.

It went on much in the same vein- County on the offensive – Wootton held by someone in yellow  but managing to slip the ball to Diamond  who had come on with Southam- Hales after the break for Norwood and Hughes.

Diamond was in, and should have done better, but instead his underpowered effort failed to test Pym.

Then things got a touch annoying again and it was County this time- turning a throw-in, in the shadow of the C/E ,into a chance to pass back to Hinchliffe after an interminable period of `sideways…sideways…back ` - just too much to take especially with us 1 down at home!

But County had their moments, and not that long after that last action as a great run from Camps ended with Collar inches from getting to Rydel`s tasty final ball.

There was more too- from Woots ….some fantastic close control under pressure that saw him send Southam- Hales clear- it was good stuff, and Stags were distinctly flustered by Macauley`s unorthodox pace and skills , but the corner they conceded they then cleared easily enough- danger sorted!

It went end to end for a time next- Southam- Hales having to do vital defensive duties to see the threat from Frazer Blake- Tracy off, ushering the ball expertly back to Hinchliffe.

We were into the last 20 minutes now and , despite loads of effort from the blues, there was no sign that Stags would wilt any time soon.

As I say, County kept plugging away, but that edge of class was missing- Collar watching as his header flew over the bar from Rydel`s cross.

Time for some panto next as Louis Reed sent Gregory into the box. He had 2 blue shirted defenders for company so…second favourite….thus he opted to crash to the ground. It was a poor effort and no penalty as Mr B duly confirmed quickly.

Collar had another header comfortably dealt with by Pym, and with 6 minutes of normal time left- Stags responded by hitting County on the break bringing a decent save from Hinchliffe to stop Bowery who was away on his own.

County kept pressing for what remained of normal time but without ever looking likely to nick the required equaliser.

That said- Woots was inches from getting to a Collar ball deep in added time, and an almighty roar penetrated the freezing Edgeley air as County`s captain was perceived to have been brought down in the box.

I was unsure – Mr Durkin wasn`t- he waved play on.

Sadly ,that was more or less the game`s last gasp.

You cannot fault County for effort, but there was a lot missing today that was there on Wednesday.

Much for DC to contemplate before Sunday`s big FA Cup tie which just might relieve some of the pressure  on County who will have nothing to lose!

Sunday`s another day….another match…believe!

 

Stockport County line up :-

 Hinchliffe, Knoyle (Touray 75), Hughes (Southam-Hales 46), Camps, Collar, Pye, Connolly, Wooton , Rydel (Fiorini 86), Norwood (Diamond 46), Bailey (Stretton 75).

Subs not used: Addai, Gardner.

 

Mansfield Town line up :-

 Pym, Hewitt, Bowery, Oshilaja (Kilgour 46), Cargill, Blake-Tracy, Maris  (Reed 66), Boateng (S. Quinn 75), Lewis, Evans (Flint 66), Gregory (McLaughlin 80).

Subs not used : Flinders, Waine.

 

Attendance :10010 ( 1193)

hedgegrower

 

 

 

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