WYCOMBE WANDERERS 1, STOCKPORT COUNTY 3
Stockport County ended their regular League One campaign with yet another fine second-half comeback that saw them claim maximum points at fellow play-off rivals Wycombe Wanderers.
Substitute Benoný Andrésson, Ollie Norwood with a penalty, and Will Collar scored during an explosive 11-minute spell for County, who had gone behind on the half-hour and only avoided being two goals down thanks to Corey Addai’s spot-kick save after the interval.
The result extended the Hatters’ unbeaten run to eight matches as they finished third to contest a two-legged play-off semi-final with Leyton Orient and with a total of 87 points that represented their highest-ever tally in the Football League’s third tier.
It was also County’s first win at Wycombe for 22 years as well as a first anywhere against the Chairboys since 2010 and saw a season completed without being on the receiving end of a double, a feat last achieved by the club in 1996/97.
The warm start to May had continued into the new month’s first weekend as the teams emerged in the Buckinghamshire sunshine against one of the more pleasing Football League backdrops with trees lining the south and west sides of Adams Park.
The Hatters showed three changes from their initial line-up at Edgeley Park against Lincoln a week previously with Callum Connolly, Jayden Fevrier and Tanto Olaofe replacing Andrésson, Fraser Horsfall and Kyle Knoyle, all three of whom were named among the substitutes. And, in the absence of a start for Horsfall, the captain’s armband was handed to Kyle Wootton who was making his 50th appearance of the campaign.
With both clubs guaranteed a chance to compete in the play-offs, albeit no longer within reach of automatic promotion, there was technically little more at stake than the finishing order to determine play-off semi-final pairings, but the Hatters also had their heaviest league defeat of 2024/25 to avenge.
Wycombe, back on Guy Fawkes Night, had truly been on fire at EP enjoying an emphatic five-goal triumph to reach the League One summit although, at kick-off six months later, the Chairboys found themselves in fourth position, level on points with, and behind on goal difference by the narrowest of margins to, third-placed County.
The Hatters earned a couple of corners inside six minutes although a full dozen had passed before they created the contest’s inaugural chance as Wootton headed over a cross from the left by Ethan Pye.
Four minutes later, a Collar delivery on the same flank found Olaofe who glanced a header on to the roof of the net. And shortly afterwards, a break by the hosts led to their first attack of note with Jamaican international Garath McCleary’s ball from the right just evading the touch of his on-rushing team-mate Dan Udoh.
Fevrier fired over a free kick before Xavier Simons cleared the crossbar at the other end with a long punt from just inside County’s half while Corey Addai was off his line.
But cometh the half-hour, cometh a goal, with McCleary – teed up by Udoh – drilling home through a crowded area to put the hosts in front with a goal that was also their 1,000th in the FL at Adams Park.
Caleb Taylor who, by nodding back across the box a Fred Onyedinma delivery from the right, had also been involved in the build-up to the goal went close himself to doubling the advantage six minutes later, as he headed narrowly wide of the left post.
The Hatters returned to the field after the break, knowing that, as results stood at half-time, they had slipped a couple of places to fifth in the live table – and brought on Knoyle and Ryan Rydel at the outset of the new half.
They had Addai to thank 10 minutes in when he saved from Simons who had been played through on goal by McCleary. And, on the hour, the Hatters owed their goalkeeper an even greater debt of gratitude when he stopped Luke Leahy’s penalty which had been given for handball by Owen Moxon.
Ten minutes later, and eight following his introduction, Andrésson fired in the equaliser connecting with Rydel’s cross from the left, following a quickly taken free kick and blasting home on the half-volley for his fourth goal of the season.
With 13 minutes remaining, the Hatters were ahead after Norwood, whose set-piece had led to the first goal, went to ground in the home area under a challenge from Onyedinma. Referee Ben Toner pointed to the spot and Norwood dusted himself down to place his kick into the bottom-left corner, by way of a second successful penalty in three games.
And, within another four minutes, County had a third to wrap up victory after going behind for the fourth time in five games. Fevrier’s delivery from the right to Odin Bailey saw the substitute cleverly step over it for Collar, on the edge of the box, to curl his shot superbly beyond flailing home ‘keeper Will Norris.
An injury to Wycombe substitute Sam Vokes accounted for a good chunk of the 10 minutes added on during which Udoh came close to troubling the scorers, only to be denied by another Addai block, before the final whistle signalled the end of this season proper. Thoughts now turn to East London, with a first-leg trip down to Brisbane Road a week hence
Goals: McCleary (30) for Wycombe. Andresson (70), Norwood (77 pen), Collar (81)
Stockport (3-4-1-2): Addai; Connolly (Knoyle 46), Hills, Pye; Fevrier (Horsfall 88), Norwood, Moxon (Bailey 62), Touray (Rydel 46); Collar; Wootton, Olaofe (Andrésson 62).Subs (unused): Wogan, Cosgrove.
Attendance: 7,561 (1,588 visitors).
Report: Gareth Evans.