Stockport County 3 Rotherham United 1 ( Football League 1) Saturday 12 April 2025

 

 

 

County duly disposed of the challenge of  Rotherham United who came to Edgeley Park today on the back of a run of improved form .

That improved form looked to be continuing as the Millers  took an early lead albeit against the run of play, but  despite massively dominating possession , County took until the closing minutes of the first half to rectify matters when Jack Diamond equalised with a bit of a belter.

Level at half time, County lifted their game the required notch or two ,after the break with  well taken goals   by Brad Hills and Kyle Wootton doing the trick securing the points for Dave Challinor`s team that keeps them very much on track to prosper in the upcoming play off battles.

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The Railway End was comfortably full of folk from Rotherham ,but the early minutes were probably uncomfortable one`s  for them as County pushed on from the whistle and settled down in the visitors` half .

That said , despite monopolising possession , and playing some neat football , there was not much emerging on the end of it all- Touray getting County`s only shot on target in the first 5 minutes but without causing opposing keeper Cameron Dawson any issues.

Then United made a break for it through Reece James who had the drop on County down the left. The only problem was that he was glaringly offside, and the Danny Stand liner steadfastly refused to raise his flag-we could have been punished unfairly for the official’s lapse ,but instead we were relieved to see James lose control of the ball and the situation – it stayed 0-0!

Fevrier looked to reply for County , but after doing the hard bit…stealing the ball …..Fevs then disappointed with a shot that failed to test the keeper.

That was disappointing but not as much as watching what followed on from that action , and again the move featured James down the left and his early ball into the box seemed to have taken County totally by surprise as Mallik Wilks was able to head the ball beyond Addai into the net unchallenged.

Despite advance reports of the Millers recent  improved form under the tutelage of former County man Matty Hamshaw , that goal was a shock!

County`s mettle would now be tested – how would they respond?

Well, initially nothing changed …they certainly did not panic, but there was no real sign of an upping of the revs by the blues- no real testing moments followed for keeper Dawson, indeed it was Corey Addai who had his work cut out between the sticks for County keeping a curling dipper from United`s Joe Powell out ,20 minutes in.

It was frustrating to watch as free kicks came and went with no end product ( 2 in a 10 minute period)for County – Tanto on the end of Hills ball to the back post seeing his shot from close in narrowly miss out .

Then it threatened briefly to boil over as a curious` brew ha ha `involving the Rotherham keeper, Woots and featuring Mr Swabey the Referee excited the crowd – ultimately ending unsatisfactorily as the ref ruled in Dawson`s favour.

County continued to monopolise possession – Tanto darting clear on 35 minutes his cross aimed at Wootton ,kept from him by solid defensive work by the Millers back line.

On it went in the same vein- Fevrier charging clear down the right , 2 minutes later, combining with Moxon to good effect but just unable to facilitate the required finish from Tanto.

So, nothing was changing, and then it did as another seemingly lethargic County move meandered inside to where Jack Diamond lurked just outside the box, and we instantly felt that now everything might change , and for the better, as the ball sped from Diamond`s foot goalward where Dawson could do nothing with it.

That was a belting goal, and just about at the correct time to aid County and inflict on the Yorkshire team the required amount of psychological damage.

We would see in the second half, but before that arrived there was a bit of a hiccup in County`s progress before half time as an aberration by Fraser Horsfall saw him almost gift a goal to Sam Nombe smack in front of goal- somehow Nombe could not take advantage…apply the finish….we had escaped in the first half`s dying embers!

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I got the distinct impression that County were quite definitely raising their game as the second half started- James doing brilliantly for Rotherham to keep Fevrier from reaching Diamond`s ball into the box, Moxon following that action up with a shot that drifted narrowly wide with Wootton showing interest at the back post.

This was obviously a change for the better- Tanto unlucky next on the end of more good work by Moxon.

Yes, County looked to have `the whiff of something in their nostrils – a situation aided inadvertently as United`s back line spilled possession , teeing Diamond up for a shot that was deflected for a corner .

We made nothing of the kick, but came back at Rotherham almost immediately via Fevrier , and Pelly Ruddock-Mpanzy did well to block Diamond in the act of getting a shot off a yard or so out.

That was Fevrier `s last action in the game  as he and Moxon were replaced by Collar and Bailey.

But the action swung to County`s end where Wootton ushered a header by Mpanzy out off the line- a rare glimpse of what the Millers might be capable of if allowed.

But County looked not to be about to allow anything of the kind – crosses pinging over from the left flank where Touray and the on-fire Jack Diamond were working overtime, and the pressure from County was increasing visibly – could they turn pressure into the gold of goals?

Well, the visitors did their level best to see that County were thwarted- Hakeem Oboffin doing exceptionally well to block a drive by Tanto on the hour- it seemed County might never square this circle!

Then they did as Norwood lifted a nicely weighted ball to the back post where Brad Hills headed it home with some relish!

County had their lead, and the celebrations( a little prematurely perhaps ) began under the Cheadle End roof.

But County wanted a third goal…Bailey and Collar working well together to sneak a cheeky corner that saw a Hills header headed back across the box by Horsfall – Dawson doing brilliantly to get a hand to the ball and punch it clear under pressure.

With just over 15 minutes left, it was still 2-1 to County who were still dominating possession- Rotherham fans had not had an awful lot to enthuse about , thus far, opening goal apart, but just for a second or so they thought that they might just see their team equalise….

Well , it started satisfactorily from their point of view as Malik Wilks darted clear into the County box  where he lost his footing and fell to the ground. It was clearly a slip…..not a penalty….and Mr Swabey knew it to be so and waved the appeals away.

Meanwhile, County had the ball and were heading in Dawson`s direction most specifically Ethan Pye who picked out the marauding Kyle Wootton  with a neat pass. Woots had work to do and a defender for company , but he did it to perfection holding off the defender`s challenge before beating the keeper to put County 3-1 up.

 I have not mentioned Diamond for a while, but he was in imperious form and deservedly M.O.M – a terrific run from him seeing Tanto just beaten to the ball by keeper Dawson.

Wootton was not far behind Diamond as far as work rate and quality of his game and he was so..so unlucky to next see his shot drift wide of the far post with Dawson beaten – this after County`s number 19 had stolen the ball from a defender!

Inevitably County relaxed a touch in the last 10 minutes or so of the game, Rotherham getting late chances to attempt to get back in the game.

The best effort from Millers was probably Nombe`s run on 87 minutes – it probably deserved some reward, but Pye ensured no reward was forthcoming. The visitors won a corner, but this was ushered away by Callum Connelly for County.

Kelly and Powell both had a go probing for an opening that County`s resolute back line emphatically continued to deny them!

We all knew that, despite the Millers best efforts, County would take all the available points , and they deserved to do so as well!

On to Posh on Friday then- see you there then!

 Stockport County line up :-

 Addai, Touray, Horsfall, Diamond, Olaofe (Mingi 91), Fevrier (Collar 55), Pye, Wootton (Cosgrove 91), Moxon (Bailey 55), Norwood, Hills (Connolly 80).

Subs not used- Wogan, Hamilton.

Rotherham United line up :-

 Dawson, Rafferty, James, Powell, Nombe, Wilks (Kayode 82), Sibley (Hugill 63), Odoffin, Holmes (Kelly 63), Humphreys, Mpanzu.

Subs not used- Phillips, Hull, Douglas, Clarke-Harris

Attendance- 10390 (1084)

hedgegrower

 

 

 

 

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