Rotherham United 0 Stockport County 1 ( Football League 1) Saturday 20 September 2025

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County came away from the rain swept New York Stadium with all the available points today- secured by a well-deserved 1-0  win against a feisty but ultimately outplayed Rotherham United.

A second half goal from the excellent Kyle Wootton did the trick for County, but the victory was built on solid team ethics diligently put together- typified by the back line  that played magnificently in trying conditions- pushed I would name Joseph Oluwo as  M.O.M but Brad Hills could not have been more than a whisker behind him…..or indeed Ethan Pye who continues to turn in top rank performances to order.

The rest of the team fed off the back line`s hard work, the result being a superbly  balanced performance that left Matt Hamshaw`s team struggling in the blue`s wake!

And…yes…we did come under pressure in the latter stages of the game, but ,unlike last Saturday, we had sufficient forwards on the park at that time to do the job required and they did it!

Well done all!

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The Away End was bouncing at 3 o`clock as the game got underway- much of the play happening at the other end of the park , where both teams probed the other tentatively.

 


 


 

 

 

 

A raft of early set pieces might have primed County`s fuse, but whilst the free kick resulted in the corners, neither produced anything to discomfort our hosts.

Rather there was a hint that Rotherham might profit from our set pieces – breaking clear at speed – Powell going one on one with the returned Ben Hinchliffe – testing the County keeper with a shot, but Ben did what Ben does, and it stayed 0-0.

Less than a minute later Ben was called on again to successfully dash from the box to cut Kayode off as he ran on to a ball over the County back line!

If County looked the more together outfit, United were showing signs of life- perhaps too many in Hugill`s case as an elbow laid Hills low for a while , earning the perpetrator a yellow card in the process.

Baptiste was next to show for the Yorkshire side but , under pressure from Ethan Pye, could only volley the ball over the bar from close in.

The half hour then saw County almost light the place up ,but when Norwood threaded his pass on to Andresson, the keeper did enough to ensure the young forwards shot narrowly missed the target.

Diamond took a shot from the edge of the box next ,but United keeper Cameron Dawson had no trouble keeping it out.

Back came United- Pye doing excellent work to ensure Jules` headed wide when well set near goal.

 

Pye took his game up the park next – heading over as 5 minutes added time was announced.

County continued to build the pressure on their opponents as half time neared – a series of quickly taken free kicks looking good – Hills coming close with a header that was cleared of the line in the half`s final moments.

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Jayden Fevrier and Malik Mothersille were on, replacing Corey O`Keefe and Jack Diamomd ,when the game resumed after half time with County looking distinctly livelier than in the first half with the two fresh faces for County putting real pressure on United down the flanks.

But Osborn was first to the fore , his urgent cross heading towards Andresson and kept from him by an important challenge from Jules.

Mothersille`s turn came shortly after, looking for an opening his cross being spilled by the keeper , under pressure from Wootton – the home side managed to clear their lines from this , but the move showed what was possible for the blues.

Dan Gore gave the home specs something to get excited about after that last action,  intercepting a loose ball from County, only for his shot to miss the target much to the enjoyment of over 1500 travelling County fans in the away end.

It took County no time at all to respond- but Bailey`s shot was brilliantly turned around the post by the diving Dawson.

The resultant corner saw Fevrier in action, not for the first time, tearing into County`s opponents down their left flank .They had no answer to him , but they hauled Wootton down as Fev`s pass headed towards him across the box – the referee did not spot the foul- United had escaped……or had they ?........

Nope, they hadn`t as from the corner Norwood gave us another example of his abiding class slipping a peach of a pass into the box where Kyle Wootton`s head did the rest!

County now led 1-0, and the players promptly headed off towards the away end and the County supporters and quite a celebration followed …and rightly…deservedly so !

A rash of Rotherham substitutions followed the goal , but it was County who continued to mount the more serious attacks – Andresson twice missed out- with half chances, and Fevrier kept the hammer down on the left side of the home defence, with some relentless pressure- Dawson, the United keeper, doing well to somehow get a hand to one of Fev`s offerings with a clutch County forwards in his face.

With just under 20 minutes remaining to play , Andresson was substituted , Nathan Lowe coming on in his place- a like for like change that was totally understandable .

 Lowe forced Dawson into making a decent save not long after coming on, having latched onto a loose ball, but might have done better shortly after- tamely side-footing the ball straight at the keeper after amazing work by Fevrier had ripped the home sides left flank to shreds .

The locals got a touch excited late on when a Rotherham free kick ended with substitute Liam Kelly putting the ball in County`s net, but their celebrations were a tad previous and soon lost in gales of derisive laughter from the away end who had seen that the far liner had their flag up- offside!

 We went into added time ( 3 minutes of it ) defending free kicks for sure , and mightily relieved to see the ball fly wide of Ben`s goal from the first of them.

But things were somewhat different to last Saturday in that we had bodies up the park , or in position to be `up the park` , and the defence was in prime nick – Hills particularly so with one late/ late challenge to repel the home side`s push down our left flank.

“Time Ref” came the cry from around me as we went beyond the 93rd minute….”Time Ref!!”again…and again…then it was  time , and County had taken a valuable 3 points from a tricky assignment along with their first clean sheet for yonks!

As I said earlier- well done all!

 

 

 

 

Stockport County line up :-

 Hinchliffe, Olowu, Hills, Pye, O’Keeffe (Fevrier 46), Bailey (Moxon 85), Norwood , Osborn, Andrésson (Lowe 73), Wootton, Diamond (Mothersille 46 (Camps,85)).

Unused Subs: Addai, Connolly.

 

Rotherham United line up:-

Dawson , Rafferty ( Spence 65), Jules , James , Powell ( Hall 65), Hugill ( Kelly 81) , Martha , Baptiste , McWilliams ( Benson 81), Kayode ( Kaleta 56) , Gore.

Unused Subs : Cann , Agbaire .

Attendance: 8,784 (1,547 ).

 

And now some crowd shots from @machinsports  

 


 

 


 


 


 


 



 


 

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