Doncaster Rovers 0 Stockport County 1 ( EFL Trophy Semi-Final ) Tuesday 3 March 2026

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 3 March 2026 saw Stockport County emerge from a brief period of doubt and disarray to establish another piece of County History  confounding the doubters in doing so with a  well-deserved 1-0 victory against Doncaster Rovers that takes them back to Wembley for the EFL Trophy Final  .

It was an uplifting performance from County  who ,faced down the not inconsiderable task of an away Semi Final with a performance rich in the spirit of the buccaneering pirates of times past …..Adama Sidibeh seeing to the buccaneering whilst Ollie Norwood was IC ensuring the Blues  opponents walked the plank should any of their number earn rebuke.

  

The blues thoroughly outplayed their Yorkshire opponents, in the first half , going ahead after 11 minutes via  another immaculately executed Ollie Norwood free kick , after Jay Mc Grath had fouled Ben Osborn .

 

The problem was that , despite looking far and away the better of the 2 sides , at half time County still only led by a single goal !

Cue Grant McCann`s half time chat with his team , and Rovers emerged after the break an entirely different prospect- finally forcing County to defend more and more.

But County stood their ground, gave not an inch to their Yorkshire opponents, emerging as winners sending their supporters home happy .

In the end this was a genuine team performance- kudos all round …no M.O.M …all heroes!

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The Flyer got us to our Semi Final venue in good time, to witness another uplifting start to proceedings from County`s away support, as over 1100 duly obliged with an awesome display of verbal support backed by multiple flags and much positive supportive spirit- excellent to be so close at hand to!

 

The early return , on the park, from this however ,was not great as the first  County attack ended with Woots flagged offside at the sharp end of the action.

Not long after, Rovers Glenn Middleton could be seen chasing a long ball into the County half- doing well initially by getting the better of Ben Osborn before being bested in turn by Ethan Pye in the box.

That was 3 minutes in……another minute and Rovers played the same card again ,slinging the ball   forward , this time to be chased by Billy Sharp, but he was also policed nicely by Pye and the danger was ended.

From that point on County took charge of proceedings- surging forward playing impressive football that forced their opponents to find touch at best in response.

The 10^th minute rather encapsulated that aspect, as Osborn turned inside on a surging run to be brought down crudely by Jay McGrath, just outside the box.

It was in Norwood territory, and he duly took the kick beating Rovers` keeper Zander Clark with resounding precision.

County had the lead and the away end went AS in response – perhaps hoping for a further County goal ….

Well, County certainly attacked , and with gusto, Osborn winning a corner with some incisive play. But the kick was over-finessed ,and the eventual shot flew well wide- any chance was gone!

County upped the work` rate though- Woots just wide with the goal gaping on 20 minutes…….another chance emerging within a minute and falling Bate`s way but he could not force the ball home from close in….

That was disappointing , but I bucked up a bit seeing a break by Adama Sidibeh halted by another over robust `tackle` from McGrath.

We got a free kick and in precisely the spot the previous one which Norwood put away so successfully , was taken from.

Norwood again took the kick , this time lifting it towards the far post.  Clark, the home keeper did exceptionally well in response flinging himself upwards and backwards to tip the ball over the bar- more disappointment surfacing when County failed to then force the ball home from the flag kick- Norwood’s follow up effort going wide of the far post.

County were still in charge beyond the half hour mark and some excellent football from them won them a corner that saw Clark flap prodigiously at the incoming ball- County sadly unable to take advantage of their opponent`s discomfiture  .

This pattern was repeated as the half progressed- County winning corners…not taking full advantage of doing so

Rovers had been thoroughly outplayed ,but a  late twitch of the apparent Yorkshire corpse gave us a hint of what might follow later as Gibson bamboozled Osborn and Pye to burst into the box , whereupon his luck ran out as Hills cleared the danger for County.

But the half ended with County on the front foot again via Sidibeh, who went one on one with the keeper whose last ditch save kept his team afloat, but not before he also put paid to Lewis Bate`s follow up effort.

1-0 at the break was OK, but after all that control and domination to be just 1 goal up was slightly disquieting!

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Dixon was on for Stokes when the teams returned for the second half- Rovers going for a triple change of personnel and the fresh legs looked to have brought with them a livelier approach from the home side who attacked the blues with an apparent relish totally absent in  the first half.

It stayed 1-0 though as it did again 5 minutes into the half when a productive cooperation twixt Wootton and Sidibeh saw the latter in on goal, but again disappointed to see his shot fly narrowly wide of  the keepers far post.

Sidibeh was in full buccaneering mode by now and , just 6 minutes later, looked on to score as he surged through down the middle towards  the box. The problem for Adama was that he had Matt Pearson for company and the two `came together ` in time honoured fashion making an untidy heap of bodies on the Yorkshire turf.

I chose, along with many in the away end, to see that as a clear foul , a free kick to County and some plank walking for Pearson but Referee Will Finnie , who over all had a pretty decent game, thought differently- Rovers getting a free kick .

I am not sure if that action / decision influenced Rovers, but they definitely upped their game afterwards -looking very lively, winning a free kick then promptly wasting it.

With 25 minutes left DC acted bringing Bailey and Tanto Olaofe on for Bate and Sidibeh.

I listened to DC`s post-match after Stevenage and noted his comments on  needing to curb Adama`s unpredictability on the park- with alarm, his unpredictability is a massive asset and should not be coached out of him!

Still, we now had Tanto hoping , I guess ,to feed of the overwhelming bank of goodwill felt towards him by County fans. He opened with a run down the left and a tidy pull back inside to Norwood who dragged his  shot wide of goal.

Tanto `s persistence did him credit  ,winning his team a corner 3 minutes later ,which saw home keeper Zander Clark struggling to cope under pressure, but County had their own struggles- namely how to turn  quality approach play into shots on goal, and if Clark was struggling, his defensive colleagues were rallying around and supporting him in numbers thwarting County`s every attempt to test the keepers credentials.

Molyneux rather overdid the support with a cruncher on Tanto that earned a card, but generally the Rovers defensive effort did enough to frustrate County and keep hope alive with the lead still just 1-0 late on.

Gibson thought he might have the answer for Rovers with 4 minutes of normal time left, but his goal bound effort was beaten out to safety by Corey Addai twixt the sticks for the blues!

If County had defending to do around this time , they also had chances- most prominently one created by a Wootton / Dixon cooperation that took the latter one on one with the keeper whose impressive last ditch save kept his team notionally in the game!

Into added time we went with County trying to spend time in their opponents half, whilst Clark spent much of his sending hopeful long balls towards Addai.

But County continued to defend their corner well, eventually hearing the final whistle that told them they had a Final to face at the national stadium as a result of their efforts.

Well played County !

It was a happy return to Stockport on the Flyer, but midst all the good stuff I felt I should mention a couple of things that irked…..

I was somewhat aghast to see the playing surface had been foreshortened by about 3 or 4 yards ( each end I think) to accommodate TV adverts .

And if that wasn`t bad enough it the became known that the on-site service for visually impaired supporters was unavailable to them due to apparent incompatibility with the TV company`s system.

Just when does something other than the endless pursuit of the bottom-line seep into the thinking of those running our national game ?

Rant over- see you at Wembley then !

 

Stockport County line up:-

Addai, Olowu, Hills, Pye, Diamond, Bate (Bailey 65), Norwood, Osborn,Stokes (Dixon 46), Wootton, Sidibeh (Olaofe 65).

Unused Subs: Hinchliffe, Dodgson, Mothersille, Edun.

 

Doncaster Rovers line up:-

Clark, Maxwell (Senior 46), Pearson, McGrath, Broadbent (Bailey 46), Gibson, Sharp, Nixon (Molyneux 46), Middleton, Robinson (Hanlan 46), Close.

Unused subs: Lo-Tutala, Gotts.

Attendance: 5,418 (1,179 ).

hedgegrower

 

A Crowd Gallery from old hedgie.....