STOCKPORT COUNTY 1, BARNSLEY 1
One-time Barnsley defender Callum Connolly struck late on against his former club to gain a deserved point for Stockport County in front of the television cameras at Edgeley Park as they stopped the rot after suffering back-to-back league defeats for the first time in 21 months.
In what was County’s first home league match for three weeks, and a second successive fixture selected for live coverage, the visiting Tykes took a first-half lead, but were denied a first EP win since the final day of the 2003/04 season when a much-improved second-half performance by the Hatters was rewarded with Connolly’s 89th-minute volley.
The lunchtime draw nudged County up a couple of places to third in League One, ahead of the later afternoon programme of games.
Late autumn mist and drizzle filled the air in and around SK3 as the Hatters took to the field for the early Saturday kick off showing three changes from their initial line-up at Peterborough nine days previously.
Owen Dodgson returned from his one-match suspension, and Jayden Fevrier and Nathan Lowe were also handed starts, replacing the injured Callum Camps, Jack Diamond, and Corey O’Keeffe who was ruled out under the terms of his season-long loan from the Tykes.
In addition to Connolly, Dodgson was one of three other Hatters in the matchday squad to have previously been on Barnsley’s books, along with substitutes Corey Addai and Jack Hunt. The latter two were joined on the bench by Ben Osborn who was making a welcome return after limping off halfway through the FA Cup-tie at Tranmere four weeks earlier.
The South Yorkshire visitors, sitting at the outset five positions and four points behind County but with two games in hand, earned a first-minute corner from which followed the contest’s inaugural chance. Skipper Luca Connell took the initial, short delivery, before collecting the ball back on the edge of the box and curling a goal-bound shot that was beaten away by Ben Hinchliffe.
Six minutes later, Fevrier fired County’s first effort beyond the right post before turning provider with a cross to acting captain Kyle Wootton whose header cleared the Railway End crossbar.
Fevrier’s lively start continued with a darting run past Maël de Gevigney, followed by another delivery from the right which, on this occasion, fell to Beno Andrésson, whose first-time shot flew narrowly over.
Davis Keillor-Dunn, the Tykes’ leading scorer, was next to try his luck, but his low shot from just inside the area fizzed harmlessly wide of the left upright.
Just after the first half’s mid-point, Keillor-Dunn tried again courtesy of an effort that deflected behind off Joseph Olowu. But, three minutes ahead of the half-hour, Barnsley capped a useful spell of pressure by breaking the deadlock as Wales U21 international Vimal Yoganathan slid in to convert at close range Reyes Cleary’s cross from the left.
With eight minutes of the half remaining, the visitors’ fifth corner led to a thunderbolt volley from outside the crowded box by Adam Phillips that an unsighted Hinchliffe just managed to keep out with his feet. And four minutes later, the action turned for the first time in a while to the other end, where Lowe blazed over after latching on to Odin Bailey’s through-ball.
During added time, Hinchliffe saved efforts from Keillor-Dunn and Patrick Kelly in quick succession, and Ethan Pye stopped Kelly in his tracks when the Northern Irish international was through on goal, to prevent the Tykes from building on their one-goal lead before the break.
The Hatters began the new half with a double-substitution, introducing Hunt and Osborn and, eight minutes in, won their first corner of the afternoon, which led to a deflected shot from the edge of the area by Bailey that was parried by visiting goalkeeper Murphy Cooper.
Four minutes later, further Fevrier trickery on the right culminated in a delivery for Wootton whose nudge towards goal was cleared by Marc Roberts. And, at the other end, a Connell free kick into the County box was headed past the right post by Jack Shepherd.
Diamond who, hitherto, had started every league game of the campaign and Malik Mothersille were brought on to boost the attacking endeavour further. And, with seven minutes of normal time left, Diamond nodded into Cooper’s gloves after connecting with a Hunt cross from the right.
But, with a minute to go, it was a defensive stalwart who hit the back of the visitors’ net, courtesy, for good measure, of a Barnsley old boys’ collaboration as Hunt again delivered from the right, and Connolly, with his scorching volley, came back to haunt the club for which he had played in 2016, on loan from Everton.
Six minutes were added on, and Connolly had an opportunity towards the end of them to double his tally, as well as tripling County’s eventual points-haul but his header, following a corner by Diamond from the right, was comfortably clear of the bar.
Goals: Connolly (89) for Stockport. Yoganathan (27) for Barnsley.
Stockport (3-4-3): Hinchliffe; Olowu (Hunt 46), Connolly, Pye; Dodgson, Moxon (Diamond 69), Bailey (Mothersille 76), Fevrier; Lowe, Wootton, Andrésson (Osborn 46). Subs (unused): Addai, Edwards, C Gardner.
Attendance: 9,861 (1,154 visitors).
Report: Gareth Evans.