STOCKPORT COUNTY 2, BURTON ALBION 1
Stockport County’s second home match of the week saw them get back to winning ways with a sensational second-half comeback against Burton Albion.
Having lost leads by conceding two second-half goals in each of their last two matches, they reversed this pattern – not only after going behind to the Brewers midway through the first half, but also being reduced to 10 men shortly following the half-hour mark when Brad Hills was sent off.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, County, incredibly, turned things around after the break with goals from Jack Diamond and captain Ollie Norwood to secure a third successive triumph over Burton and jump back up into the play-off places, three points behind leaders Cardiff.
The Hatters took to the field on an overcast Edgeley afternoon, showing just one change from their initial line-up that had faced Bradford City in SK3 four days earlier. Nathan Lowe was handed his first League One start, replacing Kyle Wootton, who was named among the substitutes.
On the left side of County’s formation, the selection of Ethan Pye saw him make his 100th appearance for the club while, a little further up-field, Owen Dodgson turned out against the outfit at which he had most recently plied his trade as a loanee from Burnley, having spent the second half of the previous campaign with the Brewers.
Burton, sitting just below mid-table at the outset, could no longer call upon the services of ex-Hatter Ben Whitfield, who had been part of County’s National League title-winning squad in 2021/22, and had left the visitors on the eve of their trip to re-join another of his former clubs, Barrow, in League Two.
The Brewers fashioned the contest’s inaugural opportunity in the first minute as Jack Armer’s low delivery from the left fell at the feet of JJ McKiernan who fired past the near upright. And just over 10 minutes later, following good work on the right from Kyran Lofthouse, Jake Beesley’s shot on the turn was blocked by Pye.
Burton’s positive start continued with another chance for Beesley, whose shot veered past the left post before attention switched to the other end and a run from the County half by Malik Mothersille who cut a dash down the right before drilling beyond the far upright.
Just past the first half’s mid-point, the visitors went ahead. Wrexham loanee Seb Revan’s free kick on the right found Tyrese Shade at the edge of the six-yard box and, although a shot from the latter was parried by Corey Addai, Burton skipper Udoka Godwin-Malifé reacted quickest to bundle the ball home on the rebound at close range.
Hills had an opportunity shortly afterwards to restore parity but skewed his shot wide of the left post. And a minute after the half-hour, the defender had no further part to play in proceedings, as he was shown a straight red card for pulling Shade down in the County D when the St Kitts and Nevis international was through on goal.
The Hatters were spared further punishment when the resulting free kick led to a Revan shot that was deflected against the right post and, eight minutes before the break, their reduced ranks underwent a reshuffle, courtesy of a double substitution that saw Jayden Fevrier and Wootton introduced and the defence move to a makeshift back four.
But the final attempt of the half came from the visitors as Burton hit the County woodwork a second time with a minute of normal time remaining, when Shade cut in from the left and struck the near post.
County made two further changes upon the resumption bringing on Danny Andrew and Joseph Olowu to shore up the four-player defence. And within 45 seconds, the Hatters, for the first time in the match, tested visiting German goalkeeper Jordan Ammisah whose hands were stung by a low, point-blank strike from Fevrier.
Seven minutes later, Shade ballooned over the Cheadle End crossbar when well placed to score and the early second-half, end-to-end fare continued, as Diamond fired narrowly shy of Burton’s left post, before Charlie Webster drilled to the right of the County goal.
The Hatters’ second-half performance already represented a great improvement on that in the first, when, eight minutes past the hour, they drew level as Wootton nodded down for Diamond, who ran the length of Burton’s half, before drilling his shot into the bottom-right corner of the net.
And eight minutes later, incredibly, they were ahead with Norwood blasting home a free kick from 30 yards that flew into the top-left corner off the underside of the bar.
The visitors responded with a quadruple substitution with a view to getting themselves back on terms and duly camped in the County half for the spell that followed.
This period included half a dozen minutes of time added on during which Addai and his defenders combined to scramble clear a last-ditch, goal-bound effort before the final whistle put the seal on what, at half-time, would have seemed for the Hatters a most unlikely maximum points haul.
Goals: Diamond (68), Norwood (76) for Stockport. Godwin-Malife (24) for Burton.
Stockport County (3-4-3): Addai; Hills, Connolly, Pye; O’Keeffe (Olowu 46), Norwood, Moxon, Dodgson (Andrew 46); Diamond, Lowe (Wootton 37), Mothersille (Fevrier 37 (Bailey, 88). Subs (unused) Hinchliffe, Andrésson.
Attendance:8,649 (294 visitors).
Report: Gareth Evans.