Huddersfield Town 1 Stockport County 2 ( Football League 1) Saturday 4 October 2025

 

 

 

 

 

County deservedly came away from their clash with high flying Huddersfield Town with all the points by virtue of a 2-1 win that was all the more commendable as Dave Challinor`s side had played for the bulk of the second half with 10 men- the excellent Tyler Onyango having  incurred Referee Ben Toner`s ire and a second yellow card circa 10 minutes into the half.

Perhaps the less said about Mr Toner the better, but I find myself compelled to break ranks on that one- for now though settling for saying he was sublimely unimpressive!

County by way of contrast , at times, played some excellent football, but for an age it appeared that their recently acquired predilection for being unable to score and put opponents to the sword, would conquer all again, but no…..in fact NO ….!

........starting with a rare moment of karma  in first half added time about which more later…as Ollie Norwood netted from the spot.

Cue a second half  dragged to the depths by the Referee, but a terrific goal by Odin Bailey put the game in the correct perspective – County now 2-0 up!

To some extent it was arguably inevitable that Town`s  numerical advantage would ,to some extent, win them the something from the game that Bojan Radulovics late/late headed goal   provided them with.

It flattered the Terriers, but County did well to see the game out and take the win they deserved.

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Onyango was to the fore as County pushed their opponents onto the back foot early on , roared on by another large following  under the Cowshed roof. 

County`s  early ascendancy was briefly interrupted by a break by Lee Grant`s side that saw Ben Wiles deep inside the green shirted blue`s back line . It looked interesting for Town, but Wiles dwelt over long  over getting his shot off -just long enough to allow the County defence to shut the door…concede a corner when worse threatened…then clear same courtesy of a foul by the home side.

Just 3 minutes later and Onyango was central to County`s progress again with some excellent work , cleaning up after Diamond had lost possession up the park.

Nothing then came of a break by Andresson , but something just might have ,less than a minute later, as the young Icelandic forward surged through a gap into the box down the middle again. He had  the gangling Josh Feeney to his rear, and the defender wasted no time in thundering into the County forward sending him   crashing to the ground- a clear penalty was my view, and that of 2057 others, but Mr Toner was having none of it – a decision put into sharp relief by subsequent Feeney / Andresson `collisions` later in the match , and many not involving this duo .

County looked more than capable of holding their own in what was shaping to be a decent encounter.

Andresson went close next  , after Bailey had kept a move alive, but DC`s men had occasional work to do at the other end too  where Joseph Olowu was again showing his class – a brilliant intervention denying Ben Wiles at the near post as a dangerous ball headed over.

Theatricals by Harness for Town saw them get a free kick just outside the box shortly after . Pye saw that one off conceding a corner that Roosken headed over the bar.

 There was work for Hinchliffe to do next, snuffing out  a somewhat dubious Town free kick, but it was predominantly the team from Cheshire that was calling most of the shots- both Hills and Diamond testing Lee Nicholls the home keeper with on target efforts.

But , despite County piling the pressure on , nothing was coming from it .

It had to be said  though, that there was considerably less coming back to the Yorkshire side who were looking decidedly second best today- Harness in on goal …denied by an unruffled Hinchliffe…….then a poor effort by May drifting wide with half time approaching.

Then we saw the recurring policy whereby Feeney  would nullify the threat from Andresson for Huddersfield,  by  hauling him to the ground – to no redress via the officials, get a whiff of County karma amidships!

We were in added time when we saw this policy get its ( indirect) comeuppance . The foul by Feeney on Andresson gained County a free kick, but it was fairly wide and thus not especially likely to produce a goal, but Norwood`s delivery was true and the foul on Hills ,when it arrived in the box, undisputed, making the County captain`s latest spot kick almost anti-climatical – it wasn`t of course- the away end erupting in a thunderous wall of supportive noise, as Norwood`s shot went right and the keeper went left!

There was barely time for the ref to blow for half time , but the noise continued as County went in 1-0 up!

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County continued to push forward in the second half, but without adding to their advantage, indeed twice in the first 10 minutes Hinchliffe had to make saves , the best the one on 51 minutes to deny  Ledson.

At this point I should point out that Mr Toner and his assistants had gone off the field and returned for the second half to dogs abuse from the home specs.

It would be entirely remiss of me to speculate that this in any way influenced his approach in the second half but…..

There followed a veritable wave of dubious decisions mostly in favour of the home side and the one that raised it`s head just 3 minutes after the Ledson / Hinchliffe save , was to prove particularly important in terms of the direction the match would take.

Onyango was involved and there appeared little to get excited about other than the usual theatrical excesses of Harness who made a considerable 4 courser out of the smallest of scraps – as almost as an after thought Mr T waved a yellow card in Onyango`s direction, and then a red as Tyler had been booked in the first half .

I found myself writing ` compare and contrast the almost total lack of contact involved with the Onyango/ Harness moment and that of the earlier foul on Andresson in the box by Feeney that earned not the slightest rebuke from the referee.`

It mattered not that the free kick came to nought- we could pay more dearly not long after, possibly operating for the rest of the game with 10 men!

I found myself puzzled somewhat by County`s changes next as Fevrier and O`Keefe came on for Andresson and Olowu. I found Olowu`s subbing odd , he is , in my view, an outstanding defender in decent form- was he injured…did he feel a niggle?...if so I would understand, but I had not noticed anything of that nature.

Anyway-it was what it was, and County had to get on with it , and they did that rather well in the end, but not quite immediately…

First off, we watched with delight and then horror as Diamond was played through the middle and on for a second County goal until he drifted ever so slightly wide to eventually not get his shot off , blocked by a bevy of blue shorted defenders.

 I had only just recovered from that ,when the move was repeated this time it was Fevrier darting clear through the middle and he   flattered to deceive…shaking off all challenges going one on one with the keeper who he tamely failed to beat!

That was massively disappointing, but neither  Diamond or Fevrier are pure strikers and both Andresson and Lowe were on the bench .

That said, Diamond was persistent, and it took a poor foul on him to stop him again with 15 minutes remaining to play.

I waited for the card for that one, but Mr Toner did not oblige , even with a yellow.

On it went- County`s 10-man team bravely  trying to upend their opponents and , against the odds, increase their lead!

Fevrier did well to make it to the by-line with a bit of vintage Fevs that had 2 defenders in knots-one of whom stopping the County number 10`s cross into the box with his hand. We got a free kick but there was no card – Bailey`s kick flew out increasing County`s angst.

I then lost count of how many fouls came County`s way in the next few minutes- I am taking the charitable view that the ref  was playing advantage with the blue`s attacking.

From all the mayhem down County`s left emerged Odin Bailey surging into the box like Diamond and Fevrier just  a few minutes earlier. Bailey made comparison odious ending his run by curling an immaculate effort beyond Nicholls into the net- lighting the away end fuse in the process- it was celebration time- County now led 2-0!

Huddersfield worked at responding and Castledine did as well as anyone in blue/ white had so far done today forcing a very good save out of Hinchliffe with 6 minutes, plus added, left to play.

But County were not dismayed- they kept looking to reply  - Norwood picking Moxon out with a sweetly delivered free kick only for the ball to fly over the bar off Moxon`s head with 4 minutes + left.

Town were certainly putting the 10 men from Cheshire under pressure , but they were defending well- Hills on hand to see off crosses pinging over from right and then left flanks- really good stuff!

We went into added time with the pressure still on County, and it was disappointing but not all that surprising to see Town nick one back-Bojan Radulovic heading home from a corner.

Crosses….corners…..continued to try to ruffle County`s feathers , but they stood firm and held out to claim something of an outstanding victory!

 That was good to watch, although it would have been even better to see some action by Stewards as bottles sailed over into the County side of the Cowshed from Town`s side.

That aspect was not good, everything else was, and the atmosphere on the almost chocker Flyer was good too as we headed back to SK3….

 

 

Well done County!

 

Stockport County line up :-

 Hinchliffe, Olowu (O’Keeffe 57), Hills, Pye, Onyango, Bailey, (Connolly 90), Norwood, Osborn, Andrésson (Fevrier 57), Wootton, (Lowe 90), Diamond (Moxon 85).

Unused Subs: Addai, Fiorini.

 

Huddersfield Town line up :-

Nicholls, Sorensen ( Gooch 63),  Feeney,  Low,  Roosken,  Ledson ,  Kasumu,  Harness (Radulović 63), Wiles, Castledine ( Taylor 87);, May

Unused subs:  Goodman, Roughan,  Ashia, Vost

Attendance : 18708 ( 2058)

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