County 2 Celtic 2

With a cold day and a empty looking Edgely Park Stockport County had the task of beating in form Stalybridge Celtic to ensure they were in the 4th Round of the FA Vase for the first ever time.

Stockport started with: Gelnnon, Holden, Halls, O’Donnell, Edwards, German, Blackburn, Routledge, Nolan, McConville, Elliot

Stockport got off to a shaky start with a defensive error after 3 minutes which nearly lead to Stockport being one down early on. In the 5th minute McConville sent Joe Edwards on a run who squared the ball for Tom Elliot to finish in front of a empty Railway End.

After 20 minutes Matt Glennon kept County in the game with a excellent double save from both the Stalybridge strikers this was to the shock to all in the ground who thought The Celts had to score.

In the 26th minute County should have been 2-0 up after a super ball from Sean McConville but Tom Ellitot could not find the finish in game that saw the striker become a foe of the Edgerly faithful.

The 34th and the 39th minute saw The Celts score against the woeful County defence, Connor Jennings Scored in the 34th minute with a excellent chip over Matt Glennon and then in the 39th minute The Bridge made it 2-1 with a goal from Ellams.

HT: County 1 Celtic 2

The start of the second half saw a change for County with Antonio German leaving the field in replacement for Danny Rowe and also Carl Piegianni taking Jon Routledge`s place, both of these players Jim brought off had very poor first halfs and looked unintrested in the game.

With the two subs on the field for County the second gear seem to be found with a quick equaliser from Sean McConville upon the 50th minute with some great footwork turning 3 defenders before a super finish sending the County fans into raptures.

On the 54th minute County were awarded a penalty after Celtic captain Maynell brought down Joe Edwards in the box, as a result in this challenge a red card was shown. McConville stepped up to take the penalty which was easily saved by the Celtic keeper.

With 36 minutes still to play County fans thought they had to beat 10 man Celtic, but The Celts kept a tight back four often not letting the county attackers have any time or space with the ball leading to many players looking frustrated.

In the 73rd minute Celtic had the chance to take the lead after another defensive mix up but Matt Glennon came out on top.

County striker Tom Elliot had several chances to win the game along with Sean McConville but both players missed excellent opportunities to put The Hatters into the lead.

In the end with all the pressure towards the end of the game The Celts hung in there and recorded a Full Time score of 2-2.

Attendance: 1690 (401)

My view of the game was that County created several chances in which on another day could have seen a very different shoreline for The Hatters, Jim i am sure would be happy with a point but feels like his team should have done a lot better in the second half and pushed for the win.

Several players looked useless today and yet again emphasised the need for a change, with sloppy defensive mistakes, sloppy midfielders and a striker that cant score to save his lfe you, there is no reason to wonder why we are in the position we are in currently.

With the 2-2 draw Stockport now face a FA Trophy replay this coming Tuesday night at Bower Fold.

Onwards and upwards we hope after today with hopefully back to back wins on Tuesday against Stalybridge (I hope) and Alfreton Town at EP on Saturday.

Animo Et Fide…