Burton Albion 3 Stockport County 0 ( Football League 1) Tuesday 24 February 2026

 

 

 

 

County slumped to ignominious defeat last night at the hands of lowly Burton Albion who followed a first half in which the  Midlands side  hardly made a single move of merit, by totally blasting County apart in the second .

After the first half ,another large Tuesday night County following waited for the blues to show their best game and  see their opponents off, but they waited in vain as …..in a re-run of the early minutes of Saturday`s game….within 2 minutes of the re-start, we were 1 down….. 2 down 8 minutes later as County allowed a side seemingly incapable of putting a decent move together to look like title chasers.

Add a howler by Hinchliffe just beyond the hour ,and the scoring for a depressing night in the Midlands was complete.

The inquest starts today I guess, from which answers ,might possibly  be required with a certain amount of urgency with some crucially important battles ahead of us in the remainder of the season.

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From the start, the game  seemed to be bereft of intelligently constructed and executed moves by either side-the first moment of note coming on 8 minutes via an error by the usually diligent Ethan Pye who allowed Jake Beesley through on goal. It looked a `shoo in `but Beesley’s shot was poor and Hinchliffe did what was necessary to keep it out!

That was a real chance that Gary Bowyer`s side had just squandered, could we avoid feeding them more of the same ?

Well, not immediately anyway ,as JJ McKiernan  was allowed a shot at goal from a corner – the ball carried the bar by a fair bit and then some, but we might have been punished by a better side!

The quality of play from both sides was dire at times, but the officials were no better- Hills booked for a perfectly fair tackle  on Tyrese Shade that  stopped the rot for County midway into the half. The County following were justifiably incensed at this, as Shade had progressed from an offside position right under the nearside liner`s nose.

That was depressing……

Odin Bailey gave us a rare glimpse of the way forward, punctuating his run up the park with a shot that curled towards the far corner of keeper Brad Collins` goal, but the keeper pushed the effort around the post – chance gone!

If County could be said to be in control at this point, I would not be stretching matters very much at all I insist, but their `control ` was lacking in quality where it mattered – corners came and went with no sign that we were about to put our opponents to the sword, and I looked in vain for someone to put his foot on the ball…look round….then produce a pass to induce cheers from the away end.

 

Meanwhile, we continued to rely on Burton`s profligacy in front of goal – writ large 10 minutes before half time  when Fabio Tavares wasted a free header that Hinchliffe looked in no difficulty sorting!

Bailey did raise hopes momentarily again with a free kick a minute later, but a clutch of green shirted blues could not force the ball home at the back post.

Then it was back to lifting the ball long and hoping ….. and hoping again as Burton fed briefly on the inherent inaccuracy of much of that type of play- JJ McKiernan allowed to run at us down the left before lifting the ball high over the away terrace.

The end of 2 minutes added time was a relief, but with County kicking towards the away end, surely we could expect better after the break !

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Then it all suddenly got far far worse, starting just 2 minutes into the second half when an almighty muddle down our left flank saw Godwin- Malife  take advantage of zero cover from County, to scoot …unchallenged….along the by-line before passing inside to Shade to fire the ball home to the consternation of County`s support!

We were 1-0 down and County looked shaky now – by way of stark contrast  the previously largely cowed Albion were on top and feasting hungrily on the situation.

Cue a raft of County substitutions as Tanto Olaofe, Joseph Olowu and Odin Bailey were replaced by Dodgson, Stokes and Sidibeh.

I winced to see that we were repeating our mistakes of Tanto`s previous time with us by always making him first to be hooked off- strikers cannot score on the bench and young one`s perhaps needing an arm on a shoulder and a wise word gets neither and his motivation is likely in shreds.

Dodgson came on for Olowu ( another one who gets pulled off early regularly) to go wide left in a four , which seemed strange too with defending not being Dodgson`s  strongest talent.

 

It took just 8 more minutes for County to implode again as they went 2 down- Evans apparently scoring his first goal since 2021 for the Brewers by putting his side`s second goal home from Hartridge`s pass.

Not much came back from County- an effort by Osborn showed willing but the home keeper dealt with that easily enough, and it was not a great surprise when County went 3 down except in the way it was conceded as the usually ultra reliable Ben  Hinchliffe , in trying to usher Jake Beeslet`s hopeful long punt out of play, instead allowed Shade to steal the ball off him and score into the unguarded net!

If nothing came back again from County , credit goes to Adama Sidibeh for effort- effort chasing a long ball rewarded with a ridiculous booking when he was tackled by Hartridge just outside the box.

Sidibeh was trying for sure – a run down the right and a cross finding no takers in green…….a further run picking Osborn out , who did get a shot off only to see it comfortably held onto by Collins.

The County personnel changes continued…..Bate on for Norwood with 15 minutes or so to go….Mothersille for Diamond10 minutes after that but the game was long gone by this point.

We avoided going 4 down which was some consolation, but we also managed to miss a chance of nicking one back late on- Sidibeh at last getting the drop on the home back line running onto a rare through ball of quality. It looked a real chance but Adama elected to shoot early with cover arriving at his shoulder, and his shot lacked power allowing Collins  to make the save.

Four minutes added time was uncalled for torture – the final whistle the first good thing Referee Stephen Parkinson had done all night , a massive relief!

If I have gone `over the top` in this report ,it is because  I felt the need to express the angst I , and loads of faithful travelling County supporters felt at such an abject performance.

 

 

 

I have no doubt that County will be back from this looking to atone for last night.

Dave Challinor has a stellar track record, so I look to him to again sort what needs sorting- hopefully in time for Stevenage on Saturday !

 

Burton Albion line up :-

 Collins,Godwin-Malifé, Vancooten, Hartridge, Lofthouse (Larsson 91), Chauke (Krubally 91), Evans, McKiernan (Cannon 45), Sibbick, Beesley (Adom 91), Shade (Tavares 84)

Unused subs: Dudek, Moon

 

Stockport County line up:-

 Hinchliffe, Dacres-Cogley, Oluwu (Dodgson 54), Hills, Pye, Osborn, Diamond (Mothersille 85), Norwood (Bate 75), Bailey (Stokes 54), Oloafe (Sidibeh 54), Wootton

Unused subs : Addai, Dixon

Attendance: 3,224

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