Stockport County 1 Cardiff City 1 ( Football League 1 ) Saturday 13 September 2025

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All images used in this report , except the above header, kindly provided by @machinsports

 

You will probably look at the score ( County 1 Unbeaten League Leaders Cardiff City 1 ) and think “ good result that!” and you would be correct , but County had played exhilaratingly well, pressurising the league leaders consistently throughout the game, only for the wheels to fall off with 20 minutes left to play when County Manager Dave Challinor started to divest a team ,that had their illustrious opponents on the wrack up until that point, of its attacking elements , a process completed on 90 minutes when , with 7 minutes added time still to go, Diamond was taken off in favour of Corey O`Keefe, leaving Wootton a lone operator in the no mans land twixt the 9 at the back and the few defenders City deemed it necessary to leave anywhere near their own half.

 


 

 

Cardiff piled forward in numbers increasing the County angst and that of their supporters who could sense what was coming, and it arrived in the 97th of 97 minutes when Yousef Salech headed a lob from Chris Willock home to near delirium on the Railway End where the supporters from the principality were.

Many went for Corey Addai as a result, and it is clear he was at fault in not getting a coherent challenge in , but to pile all the acrimony on the keeper misses the point for me- I am not sure about the state of his confidence , after Plymouth but it does not look to be at a high level, but the Manager picked him nonetheless, and what is more to the point he opted for a change of tactics in the last 20 minutes that cost the team a glorious win in my view.

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The old place was packed as the game got underway with County attacking their opponents , pretty much camped in the Cardiff half.

It was 4 minutes before anything came back at the blues at all-, when a fine ball from deep by Perry Ng to Cian Ashford offered City relief and County maybe some grief , but we defended the moment well .

County  were making a decent fist of a difficult assignment - another 5 minutes saw them seek to profit from a loose ball but Diamond`s shot was deflected for a corner that Cardiff cleared well enough.

Joseph Olowu had a decent game , taking the M.O.M award, but the 12th minute saw him  almost give the Bluebirds a goal , gifting the ball to Rubin Colwill in the box, and it took a good bit of work by Corey Addai to keep Colwill`s ball from the waiting Yousef Salech in front of goal!


 

 

 

That last action did not reflect how well County were shaping up- they were looking  quite potent- Onyango and Osborn showing up to massively good effect down the flanks- Onyango seeing a shot deflected for a corner from Diamonds pass- Osborn following up teeing Woots up for a header  that went wide.

That`s not to say the Cardiff were totally cowed -they weren`t particularly the feisty Salech who Ethan Pye sorted with consummate ease on the break 20 minutes in.

And ….2 minutes after that… Cardiff might have nicked a cheeky one had Ashford kept his cool, but he didn`t , instead spurning another gift when confronted by determined blue shirted defending in the box.

Just 3 more minutes and it was County who almost took the lead via Addai`s long ball that was promptly headed on by the wily Wootton to Benoni Andresson – a definite chance but the shot from the Icelandic forward struck the far post and went out with the keeper beaten.

 


 

 

County continued to build up the pressure after this-Osborn looking lively urging his teammates on with nippy runs and incisive balls …..such a ball seeing Andresson unlucky on the end of it – as keeper Nathan Trott again foiled County by tipping the header over the bar.

County`s  press continued to cause the Bluebirds grief but without making them pay the ultimate price  - that came with just over 10 minutes left of the half …….

County were on the front foot and Wootton was on the ball at the byline down the right , whereupon he sent a tasty cross goalward to where Andresson lurked – Cardiff`s Perry Ng intervening to floor the young County forward .

The referee saw it…..County had a penalty…then the lead….as Ollie Norwood stepped up to put the spot kick home !


 






County looked confident now, and Cardiff were again indebted to keeper Trott for another good save to deny Andresson after excellent approach play by Norwood and Wootton.

With half time approaching, Cardiff were given a boost when the referee adjudged that Pye had fouled Salech just outside the box. The kick was scoreable but hit the County wall- chance gone- the half ending with Brad Hills doing well to keep Salech from Rubin Colwill`s lethal looking ball in  the box !

The teams went in with County leading 1-0- a very satisfactory state of affairs!

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County continued to encourage their supporters when the game re-started after the half time break- the blues seeking to profit from an overindulgence , on City`s part, in overly intricate passing moves. Indeed ,when Andresson latched onto the ball and fed the waiting Diamond – we looked quids in, until keeper Stott made another vital save for his team, and we weren`t!

Cardiff were struggling now- County getting the odd free kick that increased their opponents` disquiet, we just needed a sliver of good fortune to make the game safe, but instead a screamer from Odin Bailey went inches wide of the Cardiff goal from Andresson`s pass.


 

 

 

 

Rubin Colwill headed a notional chance wide for Cardiff , but mainly the  forward momentum on view was all County`s – they just needed to  keep a lid on the discipline – and avoid ruining decent moves with silly fouls.

Cardiff were clearly rattled- happy to find touch to avert catastrophe – what they couldn`t avoid was Benoni Andresson so they invariably upended him as they did almost on the hour as Wootton laid a neat ball back to the Icelander in the box – down he crashed right under referee Simon Mather`s nose – but he bottled it and waved play on – an awful decision that saved Cardiff penalising County !


 

 

 

 

The officials were beginning to irritate  now- a neat move involving Andresson  brought to a summary halt by a dubious offside decision !

But a far worse decision was to follow within 2 minutes as DC opted to take Andresson and Bailey off for Moxon and Camps – thus reducing County`s attacking options , which until that point had been fairly successful , drastically and as it resulted- fatally!

 

 


 

 

 

I found myself allowing the thought  to dominate my thinking “ are we now going to sit on our slender 1 goal lead and invite the league leaders  to attack us while we all got behind the ball as close as we can get to Bergara Close!?”

Surely not, but we had been there before, and …yes…Cardiff were now piling forward in numbers as County opted to go ever deeper a situation made worse again when Diamond was taken off smack on 90 minutes ( with 7 minutes added time still to play)leaving Wootton the only one twixt the `nine at the back` and half way!

We were fortunate that City were perhaps over excited as chances came and went for Cardiff without the score being affected- Pye and Osborn both did valuable defensive work midst the Bluebird pressure.

But defending deep for 7 more minutes of added time was always asking for trouble and for sure it came County`s way  on 97 minutes as no blue shirt could get to the ball to prevent Chris Willock from gently lifting the ball goalward where the annoying Salech annoyed us some more by getting up to head the ball into the County net.

Addai appeared to make little effort to stop the rot , but then the same was true of the others in County blue in the vicinity , but all had done their best -undone by team orders in my view!

 

I have never been so angry at the end of a game as I was tonight- I feel for the players- they deserved better!

 

Stockport County line up :-

 Addai, Hills, Olowu, Pye, Onyango (O’Keeffe 81), Norwood, Bailey (Camps72), Osborn, Diamond (Connolly 89), Wootton, Andrésson (Moxon 72).

Subs not used: Hinchliffe, Lowe, Mothersille.

Cardiff Cityline up:-

 Trott, Ng (Kpakio 72), Chambers (Lawlor 72', Fish, Bagan, Wintle (Robinson 72), J.Colwill (Turnbull 63), R.Colwill, Ashford (Davies 63), Willock, Salech.

Subs Not Used: Turner, Osho.

Attendance: 9,956 (1,158).

hedgegrower

 

 

@machinsports Additional Crowd Gallery:-

 


 

 


 



 


 



 


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