Cod Almighty | Match Report
by Mike Worden
22 December 2007
Stockport County 1 Grimsby Town 1
Bleak midwinter in south Manchester and about 200 of the Town faithful and 100 Santa hats gather in the green sector' of the popular stand at Edgeley Park. The stand might be even more popular if it wasn't for the damm wide posts which block a decent view of the pitch no matter which seat is chosen. Town fans would arrive, sit down and then move seats muttering. Across the pitch the local brass band tried to bring some Christmas cheer.
The ground is the home of Sale Sharks and although the pitch takes a hammering from the heavyweight rugby players (not to mention the heavyweight County players), it passed a lunchtime inspection from Mr Attwell.
Town players did some light warming up and chatting, whilst Stockport preferred an energetic keep ball game.
When they came out for real, Town lined up in the recently favoured 5-3-2 formation. Barnes looked splendid in yellow. The three wise men at the back, Newey, Bennett and Fenton were supported by wing-backs Sam Hird and Nick Hegarty on the right and left respectively. The midfield maestros were Boshell, Bolland and Toner whilst Gary Jones and Martin Butler were the strikers. The North star was ill.
First half
Town kicked off towards the empty Railway End and started brightly. Just a few minutes into the game a great ball from Butler put Bolland through but the loanee keeper Logan saved with his feet. At the other end, Hird stooped low to head away a cross from the County left which had flown past the reach of Barnes.
On 15 minutes a great crossfield ball from Newey just evaded Bolland running in at the far post.
Town were on top of the chances and possession and there was some neat play through the midfield. Just on the edge of the box, Butler with his back to goal neatly set up Boshell, but poor Danny slipped and fell over just as he pulled his foot back to leather the ball into the top corner. Gary Jones tried a long range speculative shot from just over the half way line wide on the right, but was more likely a misdirected deep cross.
In the 25th minute Boshell, in the centre of midfield, set up Hegarty down the left. Hegarty controlled the ball, pushed it forward and appeared to have taken it on too far but his excellent cross was met by the left foot of Butler who knocked it into the right hand side of the goal. 1-0 Town. Half of the Town players ran over to celebrate with Butler in front of the Town fans, the others went to congratulate Hegarty.
Stockport fought back but the Town defence dealt with the threats admirably and at the other end Town were denied two goals through offside decisions, the first one very marginal. Butler launched himself at another great cross from Hegarty, but his bullet diving header hit the post.
Just before the break, Bolland was fouled by Owen. Newey's free kick sailed towards the left hand post and was met by Fenton, but his outstretched foot couldn't steer it into the goal.
The first period ended and Town fully deserved their half time mince pies. On a difficult pitch they had the better of the play and dealt comfortably with threats from the big Stockport players.
Second half
County brought on Anthony Elding, back in the fold after a recent club suspension for allegedly doing something naughty, to add strength to the attack, but the first part of the second half was pretty much even steven.
Just seven minutes into the second period Buckley brought off Jones and replaced him with Hunt, leaving Butler as the lone striker. Perhaps Lump had some last minute shopping to do, but it was more likely tactical. "Are we really going to try to defend for 40 minutes?" whispered the Town faithful. The wisdom of that change was soon in doubt as it allowed Stockport to play further forward.
On a rare Town break, Bennett had an opportunity to shoot but launched the ball high into the Cheadle stand. To put some scale on it, if this had been at the Osmond end, the ball would have finished up in Chapman's Pond.
Stockport won a corner and immediately made a substitution with Pilkington coming on and taking it. A neat backheel from Proudlock, was pushed out for another corner and then Raynes headed wide.
In a period of home pressure, Bennett made a great tackle on Raynes in the box when a goal seemed certain.
Buckley went back to two up front on 66 minutes when Rankin replaced Toner, which gave a better balance to the team, if not much any more pace in attack. On 75 minutes Butler was booked for an altercation in front of the Main Stand which led to a bit of pushing and shoving as more players got involved. You know the sort of thing. This incident set the scene for another flashpoint a few minutes later that changed the course of the game.
Just outside the Town box, Hird made a rash challenge with both feet which led to all of the players getting involved in a melee. Even Conrad Logan in the County goal ran the full length of the pitch to get involved. Hird was booked.
Rose took the resulting free-kick and his excellent shot looped past Barnes into the top corner.
Stockport sensed all three points could be theirs and took every opportunity to press forward. Bennett was harshly booked for an innocuous foul and from the free-kick Barnes made a great save, diving to his left. It wasn't all County though, and in the four minutes added time a Town corner and cross from Hegarty were dealt with by the home defence before Mr Atwell blew his whistle.
All in all a good performance from Town who would have probably been happy to leave Manchester with a point at the start of the game, given recent form and the track record at this ground. Town outplayed the higher placed team for much of the 90 minutes and dealt with the not-to-be-underestimated physical threat up front, fairly comfortably.
A rush of blood to the head of Hird presented the home side with an opportunity to get back into it, one which they took well, but the overall performance was good. That Paint thing second part of the Stockport double-header coming up in a couple of weeks now doesn't look so bad.