Stockport County 0 Charlton Athletic 0 ( Football League 1 ) Saturday 8 March 2025

The sun shone brightly over Edgeley Park today for the visit of Charlton Athletic, but the division`s fourth and fifth placed teams contrived to reward another bumper crowd with a somewhat forgettable goal-less draw.

Nil- Nil as a scoreline can sometimes mask good things and an epic struggle, but this was not one such match as both sides struggled to lift the occasion much above the humdrum.

County had some ill fortune along the way- a clear penalty denied early on, Wootton unlucky on several occasions but despite lifting their game a tad in the second half the blues never convinced as a team likely to ensure the Addicks went back to SE7 pointless.

Brad Hills meanwhile continues to do well in County blue ,and deservedly walked off with the M.O.M award after another fully committed 90 minute display , and Woots will be disappointed that his relentless work-rate gained scant reward, but overall DC`s team just did not do enough to deny Nathan Jones` team the point that in the end they pretty much deserved.

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County opened brightly with Collar and Tanto combining well but having to settle for a corner which came to nought.

Another couple of minutes and Addicks replied . There was an element of doubt as to whether the ball had been carried out of play in the process, but the liner slumbered on , the ref allowing play to continue, Giles Leaburn sneaking into the box where Ethan Pye did just enough to ensure Leaburn`s effort went wide!

I was hoping that this did not indicate that another exhibition of dumb a@@@d reffing was upon us after Tuesday`s lamentable display of officiating, but in less than another 2 minutes that looked to be a vain hope as County piled pressure on their opponents .

A corner resulted following a rare old melee in front of Will Mannion`s goal, then a neat ball by Norwood that sent Camps scuttling into the box where Thierry Small lay on him pushing him to the ground.

That was just about the clearest penalty you could wish to see, but not in Mr Coy`s eye`s the official waving County`s legitimate protests away.

Charlton had their moments in the action that followed with County being pushed back – Addai earning applause for a confident catch under pressure from an incoming free kick.

We were just over 10 minutes in now, and already the amount of shirt tugging from the visitors and other allied activities , was beginning to annoy, but for the most part Mr Coy was not policing the situation well at all.

That said, it was up to County to stay focussed and deal with the situation – easier said than done of course.

Ethan Pye did well though, 5 minutes later, to intercept a decent cross from Luke Berry , but Addicks would not be put off- a long throw pinning County back , and they did not deal with the follow up cross at all well-relieved to see Berry lift his effort over the bar when it looked easier to score.

Another 5 or 6 minutes passed before anything else of note happened and it was in front of the Cheadle End where a free kick had the blues on the rack until Corey Addai robbed Lloyd Jones in his disconcertingly casual style, after the yellow shirted defender had sneaked clear almost unnoticed!

With less than 10 minutes until the break, Tanto enlivened proceedings with a dangerous break-his instant speed and unexpected change of direction mid run throwing County`s opponents off balance, Tanto feeding Woots nicely and a fag papers width from being on the end of the return ball from County`s number 19 smack in front!

As half time neared ,so County kept plugging away but more disappointment followed when Rydel missed a chance to make his mark , failing to reach either Tanto or Woots as they queued patiently near goal for scraps.

Tanto was trying and it took 2 defenders to block him a minute later as he turned his man in the box . The blues settled for a corner and Hills ( a queue of 1 at the back post) fancied it as the kick pinged over, but could not make anything of it.

Hills did well again almost on half time- stopping a late break by Tyreece Campbell, the teams going in with the score still 0-0.

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After a less than thrilling first 45 minutes, the second half opened with County looking to have upped their game- Wootton very unlucky to see a terrific save by Mannion keep his shot out within a minute of the re-start- the keeper scrambling across his line to keep it at 0-0.

It was 5 minutes before the blues threatened again , and it was another source of disappointment for Kyle Wootton . It started well enough with Collar pushing on -his shot deflected over the angle of bar & post by Jones.

This ushered in a corner, and that disappointment, as a neat flick on, from Hills pass, by Woots saw the ball thud into the bar with the keeper beaten.

Once again however the play went off the boil for a while ,and there was a lengthy stoppage whilst Chaks Aneke received treatment on the field after a clash of heads- I was intrigued to see that Mr C did not follow Lee Swabey`s deplorable example from Tuesday- instead ending the period of treatment with a bounce up favouring County!

We were now beyond the hour mark, and County had brought Kyle Knoyle on for Macauley Southam- Hales - slowly County began to engineer chances, but without so much as a glimmer of luck- Tanto almost in, chasing a ball from Collar ( 67 minutes)……Wootton teeing Knoyle up for a shot that was charged down ( 69 minutes)….the referee infuriating the large majority of the 10000+ crowd by halting Wootton in the act of shooting bringing play back to allow Aneke to have treatment ( cramp it looked like to most in Row R so no head injury).

By this time , with Addicks going down for a rest at the drop of the proverbial hat, I was not best pleased and don’t get me talking on Charlton`s long throws- the number of times the thrower had his feet inside the touchline when making the throw- basics if players don’t know the rules surely the officials should!

We were into the last 10 minutes of normal time now, and Tanto was still trying- unlucky to see his shot on the turn take a deflection. Knoyle had the same experience almost straight after- ultimately wasting the moment by lifting his shot wide from the final corner in the series.

County now had Moxon and Andresson on for Norwood and Wootton – Moxon combining well with Knoyle but foiled by Mannion in the Charlton goal.

That was the 82^nd minute, another 2 and another chance but again Knoyle saw a shot go out off a defender- County just lacked that extra something that separates good efforts from goals.

But 2 more minutes and we very nearly saw that last sentence turned on its head as Collar surged clear , drifting wide as he went before playing the ball back towards and across goal where Andresson was sliding in to meet it. Sadly, our Icelandic striker missed making contact with the ball by almost no distance at all , so it stayed 0-0!

Into added time we went with those illegitimate long throws still pinning us back unchecked – the latest one seeing Kargy Anderson dart clear for Charlton and pass the chance on to Leaburn who promptly made a wakes of it!

Pressure on County continued , then we broke clear only for Knoyle to waste the opportunity by lofting his effort straight into the keeper’s arms.

County finished the game on the front foot – Rydel`s cross missing out.

So, we had to settle for a point.

Not by any means a calamity especially against promotion rivals on a run and just 1 place behind us.

We go again against Bolton then, and hope for better.

Stockport County line up :-

Addai, Southam-Hales ,(Knoyle 58), Hills ,Pye, Rydel,

Bate , Camps, Olaofe, Collar (Cosgrove 90+1), Wootton (Andresson 76), Norwood (Moxon 76),

Subs (not used): Metcalfe, Touray, Connolly

Charlton Athletic line up:-

Mannion, Ramsay, Jones, Gillesphey; Small (Anderson 57), Coventry, Berry (Aneke 57), Docherty , Edwards; Leaburn, Campbell

Subs not used: Reid, McIntyre, Watson, Gilbert, Godden