Edgeley Park

Stockport County 2-3 Barrow

Football League action returned to a sold out Edgeley Park for the first time in 11 years, and it did so with an entertaining flourish although ultimately Stockport found themselves beaten by the odd goal in five goal thriller against Barrow. A great atmosphere around the Edgeley area of the town and the large Cheadle End were in good voice until the match started. Within 5 minutes the visitors were ahead, a low shot from Josh Gordon from 25 yards, thanks to an assist from former County player Ben Whitfield. Despite lots of possession Stockport were failing to cause Barrow any problems in the last third and a clinical 2nd goal from Whitfield in 20 minutes, had the 991 Barrow fans starting to believe it could be their day. A neat pass to Whitfield by Waters following a mistake, and an excellent low curling shot with the right foot from the left hand side. Stockport’s first effort on goal was a Rydal free kick beaten away by Farman who also followed up by blocking a Camps shot. However another defensive blunder let in Barrow again, this time Kitching gave the ball away and former FC Halifax striker Billy Waters did the rest, bursting through on goal before beating Hinchliffe with a left foot shot into the bottom corner. Stockport boss Dave Challinor was forced to make changes at half time making two subs and changing to a back four and within 4 minutes they had pulled a goal back Antoni Sarcevic bundling home from close range a low cross from Madden. The pressure now was very much coming from the home side with Barrow limited to the odd breakaway and they were faced with a difficult last 20 minutes when Paddy Madden glanced home a header making it 2-3 following a centre from Macauley Southam-Hales. As a neutral you felt there would be a twist in the tale. Barrow had a half chance, Waters denied by keeper Hinchliffe but it was at the Cheadle End where the action was, Barrow defending for their lives and uproar from the large home support in stoppage time when the ref awarded a penalty to Stockport but then changed his mind following a consultation with the linesman who had seen an offside before the hand ball. County fans also thought they may have had another penalty after that but the ref waved away Stockport appeals. It was a good old fashioned battle, no tippy tappy in League 2! As always you need a bit of luck, but superb first half finishing earned Barrow the win and a winning start for new manager Pete Wild. Stockport is a sizeable town and it’s great to see them back in the Football League after their troubles, which saw them at one time down to level 6 in the pyramid. Great turnout of 10,011 at Edgeley Park, despite today’s disappointing result I expect them to be one of the challengers for promotion/play offs. One bit of disappointing news, following the match, social media were reporting that two people were assaulted on Mercian Way, police are investigating and SCFC have put out an appeal on their website for any witnesses.

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Stockport County 2-3 Barrow