Hatters hold nerve to secure return to EFL
COUNTY ............................ 2 HALIFAX ........................... 0 SAM BYRNE
JUBILANT scenes of celebration marked Stockport County’s return to the English Football League after eleven long years this weekend, as The Hatters stormed to the National League title with a 2-0 win over play-off contenders Halifax Town at Edgeley Park.
In front of a record home crowd of 10,307 on Sunday afternoon, Dave Challinor guided the club to a first ever National League crown and back into the EFL for the first time since the club’s decline in 2011.
After a 3-0 reverse at rivals Wrexham a week prior, nerves had been rife around Edgeley Park as two final home fixtures over the course of the last week of the season gave The Hatters a second bite at securing the title.
And a battling 1-0 win over Torquay United last Wednesday evening set the stage for Sunday’s final day showdown, with the visit of a Halifax side looking to snatch third spot (and a place in the semi-finals of the play-offs) from Solihull Moors.
That win over The Gulls, thanks to a second-half Paddy Madden strike, meant that Challinor’s league leaders required a solitary point from Sunday’s final day clash with The Shaymen to secure that emotional return to the Football League – but a dominant County showing took the hosts comfortably to all three.
Put simply, if County could avoid defeat to Pete Wild’s side, it would not matter what secondplaced Wrexham did at Dagenham & Redbridge.
Although the permutations favoured The Hatters, the tension was still clearly palpable at a full house inside Edgeley Park as the sides made their way out for kick-off – with thousands of County fans who had witnessed the lowest of lows in the National League North with their club fearing a final-day slip-up.
Challinor, as calm and composed as ever in the build-up to the final day, had made a huge call for the visit of Torquay on Wednesday evening, switching to a midfield diamond of Ryan Croasdale, Will Collar, Antoni Sarcevic and Andy Cannon behind Madden as the lone striker.
The bold move paid off at the right time, and Challinor was more than happy to stick with the same set-up for the tricky-looking visit of Halifax.
And, inside the opening ten minutes, a fullydeserved early opener by that man Madden eased the nerves in an instant.
Intelligent approach play by Collar saw the ball fed into the feet of the Irishman on the edge of the Halifax box – and Madden used all of his experience to buy himself a yard of space and fire an unstoppable low drive past a helpless Sam Johnson.
From there, everything was rather comfortable for the champions-elect. Halifax could barely get out of their own half, with Billy Waters’ half-volley well wide of Ben Hinchliffe’s goal the visitors’ only chance in the entire ninety minutes.
Madden, meanwhile, was producing a simply unstoppable performance for his side when they needed it most. After harrying and hassling the Halifax defence at every turn, the former Fleetwood forward came agonisingly close to a second, when Sarcevic’s corner was knocked down for the 32-year-old to curl a beauty off the crossbar.
Hull City loanee Cannon, who now looks set to depart The KC Stadium with a permanent move to Edgeley Park still a possibility, thundered a drive from distance narrowly over the crossbar – but the half-time whistle soon prompted a roar of encouragement from the home support.
As half-time did approach, a brief cheer had emanated around the stadium at news of a Dagenham goal in their final-day clash with Wrexham, only for Paul McCallum’s opener to be disallowed. But Edgeley Park would not need to wait for long for news of a helping hand from The Daggers.
County, however, were making Wrexham’s eventual result irrelevant – and ten minutes into the restart, one of the players of the season in Will Collar moved The Hatters to the brink.
Cannon’s lively effort from distance swirled and saw Johnson parry the strike wide of goal, where Collar superbly hooked the rebound into the near corner in front of a sold-out Cheadle End.
With the champagne well and truly on ice, three goals for Dagenham in a resounding 3-0 thrashing of the Red Dragons only intensified the celebrations around Edgeley Park.
Many of the remaining thirty minutes were played out amidst a carnival atmosphere, with Halifax posing little to no threat and County marshalling the occasion professionally and expertly.
With fans edging closer and closer to the pitch, the final whistle soon sparked manic scenes of joy and relief in Stockport, with fans and players celebrating together on the pitch before The Hatters lifted the National League trophy in front of an ecstatic Cheadle End.
For Dave Challinor, vindication of his decision to drop back out of the Football League and depart Hartlepool to join County back in November. But more importantly, a second successive National League promotion for him and a future ahead with his side that looks certain to be full of success.
Eleven long, often miserable years have been brought to an end by Challinor – a former County captain and, now, history-making manager.
COUNTY LINE-UP (3-4-2-1):