Curzon sunk by
STOCKPORT County claimed bragging rights over local rivals Curzon Ashton after picking up a narrow win away from home.
Late goals from Sam Minihan and Michael Clarke were enough to earn the Hatters all three points at the Tameside Stadium.
The victory left Stockport 11th in the National League North table, ahead of their game against AFC Fylde while the Express went to press on Tuesday.
It was Stockport’s fourth win of the season, and manager Jim Gannon praised his players for their never give up attitude.
“The lads put in a massive effort. Maybe it’s the fitness or desire but it’s a mentality to win games when it’s a draw,” he said.
“They get the momentum with their goal so then they’re trying to see it out at 1-0, but once we get the equaliser then we’ve got the mentality to win the game.”
Stockport made four changes from the team that beat Hyde in the FA Cup last week, with Chris Smalley, Gary Stopforth, Josh Amis and John Marsden recalled to the starting line-up.
It took quite a while for the match to come to life, with both sides struggling to make any clear-cut chances in the opening 45 minutes.
One opportunity did fall County’s way when Marsden tried his luck, forcing a good save out of opposition goalkeeper Hakan Burton.
It was goalless as the game entered the second half, and immediately after the interval Stockport thought they should have had a penalty when Connor Hampson appeared to handle the ball in the area, but the referee waved away the protests.
The referee was busy during the next 10 minutes, as four of the five yellow cards handed out during the match came between the 50th and 60th minutes, with a lot of late challenges going in.
Stockport had been the better team up to this stage, but they found themselves a goal down on 71 minutes when Curzon struck against the run of the play.
Niall Cummins got on the end of a cross from Hampson, before heading past Ben Hinchliffe and into the back of the net to make it 1-0 to the home side.
That goal appeared to
‘Maybe it’s the fitness or desire but it’s a mentality to win games when it’s a draw’
give the hosts some momentum, and they almost doubled their lead moments later when James Baillie fired at goal, but Hinchliffe managed to parry the shot to safety.
That save proved to be vital as Stockport managed to grab an equaliser when Minihan netted after 83 minutes.
Marsden’s cross into the box was headed home by Minihan, scoring his first goal in a County shirt in the process.
It looked like both teams would have to settle for a share of the spoils as the match entered stoppage time, but Stockport had other ideas as they scored a late winner in the dying seconds.
Curzon failed to clear Danny Lloyd’s corner into the box, allowing Clarke to step up and slot the ball into the back of the net to earn the visitors all three points.