Wigan Athletic 0 Stockport County 4 ( Football League 1 ) Saturday 5 September 2026

 

 

 

 

County surged to a comfortable 4-0 victory today away to Wigan Athletic.

Goals by Wootton, Woods & Diamond in the first half, and a late one from Glover which had `made by Adigun` written all over it, did the biz for County.

A decent, well-deserved win that will settle a few feint hearts after Tuesday`s defeat to Luton.

By the look of much of what County came up with today, there is much to come from them this season- be sure you are in the appropriate stadium watching them!

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The game started with a distraction ,as Referee Tom Parsons hallucinated badly- awarding Wigan a corner when  it was a nailed on goal kick every day of every week!

No matter, County disregarded this, surging onto the attack- Wood brilliantly winning the ball deep before bringing it forward at pace.  It looked good as he then slipped a pass to Diamond, as the County number 7 was away…clear, but he then lifted a disappointing effort over the bar.

Wigan responded, but not that well, as Harris sprayed a poor effort high and wide of the target.

But that set County on the rampage through Wood, who won a corner on the break. Whitworth, the home keeper punched this out, but those around him in blue did him and their team no good at all -Wootton latching onto the loosest of balls to blast a ferocious shot into the net on the volley.

County had their lead and the Away End went AS in response!

It then took County just 8 minutes to double their advantage – a move started by Bate winning the ball in the middle of the park, before passing on to Woods who made short work of beating Whitworth with a deftly delivered finish.

              That was good…really good, but it got even better , when a beautiful ball from Wood sent Diamond through – his shot as lethal a finish as you could wish for and County now led 3-0!

It went on with County continuing to attack their opponents- Wood seeking to profit from a blooper by Burns but unable to beat Whitworth with an underpowered effort.

By way of contrast Wigan were getting nowhere – constantly trapped offside, when they succeeded in attacking at all, by an efficient County defensive tactic.

And at the back they were an accident waiting to happen- Wootton strained to put one chance away but saw his shot drift wide after the umpteenth defensive aberration on Wigan`s part.

All that said…..Wigan did win a free kick very late on in the half- smack in front ..central and scoreable- but somehow- they hit the County wall with the kick- Whatmuff calmly dealing with the resultant corner as he was to do numerous times later on in the game- hopefully dousing the criticism directed at him from some County supporters recently.

Into added time we went then ,with County back attacking as a raid, started and ended by Bate went close- some dazzling play from the orange shirted blues deserving better than the series of corners that resulted- all of which came to nought.

The half time whistle sent the 2 teams in for the break with County 3-0 up- not at all a bad situation to be in!

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A raft of personnel changes for Wigan, after the break,(Murray, Burrowes & Sze replacing Barrett, Gray and Walsh) sought to get the home side eating into County`s lead, and to be fair they started quite well-  Burrowes making it into the box before being blocked by a resolute tackle from Norwood.

That was good from the County captain, but he did better not long after stopping a nippy Wigan raid by keeping Harris`s dangerous cross from one of a number of interested blue shirted forwards.

But it wouldn`t last, would it? County would re-assert their hegemony would they not?

Well, they were helped a tad when Whitworth spilled a header from Glover, 5 minutes into the half- Wigan managed not to concede a fourth goal from that action ,but it was not pretty to watch.

Meanwhile Bate was in his element- winning possession, then picking Diamond out with a near perfect pass, but he found his route to goal blocked and any chance was gone.

And we were back into defensive aberration territory again next as Wigan`s Fox laid the ball on a platter for a no doubt slightly surprised Glover. Glover was away and looking good….until he wasn`t and his run spluttered to a halt with Wigan back in possession.

The hour mark saw Wigan try to make better use of their possession- County`s young keeper Ollie Whatmuff doing well to  make a confident catch under pressure from Costelloe – punching clear under more pressure moments later ushering the ball off the line to the approval of the away end.

Not long after we saw Adigun & Fiorini replace Norwood & Wood ( both of whom left the field to significant ovations).

Play got a bit interesting next as first off Adigun was blocked on the edge of the box  on 64 minutes……Wigan replying with a disconcerting mix of fire and sloth as a veritable plethora of half chances opened before our eyes as blue shirts circled like ravenous vultures eyeing carrion in the box only for the chance of a shot…….then another be declined, although I might offer the thought that maybe the close proximity of men in orange shirts may just have played some part in the indecision.

Anyway, eventually Archie Harris ended the indecision whacking a decent effort in on goal that smacked into a post, staying out.

With 20 odd minutes left we saw Mandron & Dacre-Cogley on for Wootton & Osborn.

The next action saw Adigun pushing forward down the left onto a neat pass by Diamond. Adigun saw his chance and shot but the keeper dived to push the ball out- Diamond by this time was nearby but narrowly missed out getting to the loose ball.

That seemed fairly typical of Adigun`s bad luck just now, and more would follow later!

We then saw Whatmuff show why he is so highly regarded -starting with another clean punch out from a corner, with 15 minutes left, and then a superb save that saw him rise to tip a fierce drive from Chris Sze over the bar a minute later!

County completed their substitutions by adding Mamadou Jobe in place of Jack Diamond with 12 minutes left to play- Whatmuff continuing to shine smothering a Wigan free kick with just 9 minutes still to play.

Had Wigan done trying now…..I don’t think so, but there  was something lacking from their output-Burrowes delivery with the cross was fine, but Murray sent his header well wide just a minute later.

We were into the games dying embers now ,and County had not stopped trying either-not Mandron or Adigun, and both were heading goal ward- Mandron passing nicely to Adigun who had company and the keeper to beat which he almost did -his shot thudding into a post and staying out!

Unlucky? for sure! and more followed but with a definite silver lining!

Again, Adigun was involved, deep in Wigan last third, with the keeper in his way- eventually the shot came in from Adigun and the keeper could only parry the ball to where the advancing Glover did the biz forcing the ball home to give County their 4-0 lead.

That was that really- a really good away win, well deserved ,well-constructed and executed- a pleasure to watch.

See you at Edgeley Park for more of the same when Leicester City are County`s opponents next Saturday.

Wigan Athletic line up :-

Whitworth,  Carragher ,  Burns  ( Mellish 65),  Fox , Harris , Gray ( Sze 45) ,  Power ,  Barrett (Murray 45),  Weir ,R. Walsh (Burrowes 45), Costelloe( Perkins 68).

Unused subs : Chilokoa- Mullen , J Walsh.

 

Stockport County line up:-

 Whatmuff, Gordon, O’Connell, Pye, Glover, Bate, Norwood (Fiorini 62), Osborn (Dacres-Cogley 71), Diamond (Jobe 78), Wood (Adigun 62), Wootton (Mandron 71).

 

Unused Subs: Andrésson, Ennis.

 

Attendance: 10,412 (2,108).

hedgegrower 

 

Additional Gallery by @machinsports