The Stopford Files

Hatters v Addicks

Saturday 8th March 2025. EFL League 1. Stockport County 0 v Charlton Athletic 0. Attendance: 10,338 inc. 1,913 away fans.

Stockport County: Addai, Pye, Rydel, Hills, Southam-Hales (Knoyle 58), Bate, Camps, Olaofe, Collar (Cosgrove 89), Norwood (Moxon 76), Wootton (Andresson 76). Unused subs - Metcalfe, Connolly, Touray.

Charlton Athletic: Mannion, Ramsay, Gillesphey, Jones, Edwards, Coventry, Campbell, Berry (Anderson 57), Docherty, Small (Aneke 57), Leaburn.Unused subs - Reid, McIntyre, Watson, Gilbert.

It’s only a short ten-minute (or so) stroll from the railway station to Edgeley Park, which has been the home of Stockport County FC, since they first played there, against Gainsborough Trinity in 1902. The ground capacity is officially set at 10,852 or 10,841 depending on which version of the club history you believe, but an impending redevelopment of the facilities, will raise that figure to 18,500 or around 20,000. Once again there are a couple of different versions of the facts for you to peruse at your leisure online, if you should wish to investigate the matter further.

It takes a little while longer to walk to the ground, if like me you get wooed, drawn in and diverted towards the aroma of the most excellent array of breakfasts, served up by Sivori’s, an establishment that is very highly recommended by me and let’s just say that I’m something of a time-served authority on such matters.

And it will take even longer, if out of devilment you decide to see how many of the pubs you can get served in, en route to the ground, which were all displaying ‘Home fans only’ signs. All three of them as it happens 😉 Although I couldn't do the full set, because a fourth, the Blue Bell Inn, opposite the train station wasn't open at this ungodly hour. 12.30pm kick-offs and morning supping aren't for everyone I s’pose. The plus side of having three pubs located so close together, is that they were all competitively priced. There are some bargains to be had in Edgeley.

Many miles have a travelled, many games have I seen, as the song goes. And three of them over this past week have all been in Stockport. Spice is the variety of life, innit? Of course, with all due respect to both Stockport Georgians and Stockport Town, who I watched as part of the North West Counties League Groundhop event last Saturday, there was quite a bit more at stake on the outcome of today's head to head.

This encounter, pitted together two sides who started (and finished) the afternoon, in fourth and fifth places in the League 1 table respectively. As you doubtless already know, the top two teams get promoted automatically… and the four teams who finish from third to sixth, battle it in the play-offs. County, in fourth, have two points more than the Addicks, in fifth, who have a game in hand over this afternoon’s hosts. And as such, the remit for these two sides would most likely have been, if you can't win today then make sure you don't lose either.

It's all about ifs, buts and maybes, but ‘You’ve got to be in it to win it’ and this result, if nothing else, keeps both teams right in the mix to at least have a crack at promotion, most likely through the play-offs, where they might even end up playing against each other again in May, assuming neither of them fall by the wayside during what is shaping up to be an intriguing run in.

There's still a lot of football to be played in the meantime, but Leyton Orient must be cursing their recent blip in form (including that 0-1 defeat against Charlton at Brisbane Road last weekend), while Huddersfield, who slumped to their fifth consecutive defeat (at Bristol Rovers) this afternoon, are probably keeping the West Yorkshire branch of the Samaritans in business at the moment.

Not that either of those fan-bases will be afforded very much sympathy from anyone who was present to support either of these teams at Edgeley Park this afternoon. Charlton will play their game in hand over the Hatters (that’s Stockport BTW, not Luton Town) on Tuesday night, when they make the relatively short journey to Crawley Town. The Red Devils (I’m led to believe, that they share that nickname with another football club) will be desperately looking for points themselves, as they bid to climb out of the relegation places.

Meanwhile, next up, Dave Challinor’s County side are due to face successive away games, spaced out across the next two weekends. When they travel to in-form Bolton Wanderers and then Wrexham. No-one ever said it was going to be easy.

Incidentally, when Charlton were originally scheduled to play at Crawley, on New Year’s Day, the game was cancelled and called off, a little under twenty-five minutes before it was due to kick off. I was in Mancunian climes that day, so the postponement didn't impact me personally. But, quite a few people I know were very unhappy about having made a wasted journey to the Broadfield Stadium, on a Bank Holiday.

For the record I was here that day, at Edgeley Park, watching County hold Birmingham City to a 1-1 draw. My friend Alfie May, the former Charlton striker, scored for the visitors. Friend isn't the same f-word that a lot of my Charlton supporting mates use when referencing ‘our Alfie ‘ these days. Even though his goals probably kept them out of a relegation dogfight last season, while the Addicks boosted their coffers considerably, when they sold May to Blues for four times what they had paid Cheltenham Town for his services. Macauley Southam-Hales headed County's equaliser against Birmingham that day. So now you know 😉

It was an unseasonally, gloriously sunny day in Greater Manchester, which was a relief, given that the uncovered away end, consisting of seats bolted to every other step of the old terracing, was open to the elements that this part of the world is more commonly associated with. Though the Railway End itself was a bit of a sun trap, the row of flags vigorously flapping away above us, were a clear indication of just how strong the wind blowing across the ground from end to end must have been.

The Addicks played with the wind behind their backs for the opening half and though the blustery conditions and two well-drilled defensive units (one at either end of the pitch), meant that clear cut goalscoring opportunities were at a premium, Miles Leaburn still had half a chance inside the opening five minutes, but had to rush his effort, due to the close attention of his markers, and shot wide.

A couple of minutes later, Callum Camps went down a little too theatrically to convince the match referee, Martin Coy, that Thierry Small, in pursuit of the County’s number 8, had laid so much as a stiff breath on the tumbling attacking midfielder. I jotted down in my notes:

Callum Camps: Goes down very easily. To this end he's possibly on the pitch for comedy effect, or he might be practising for a role in Swan Lake. Needs to watch Michael Owen in the 2002 World Cup, England v Argentina, on YouTube, when he hoodwinked the referee: Pierluigi Collina (the best ref in the whole universe at the time) into believing that Mauricio Pochettino had caught him and wrongly awarded a penalty.

It’s twenty-three years ago now, but it still makes me laugh out loud to think of Owen’s gamesmanship. And while I was having a moment, reminiscing and smiling to myself, I very nearly broke into a chorus of: “You can stick your hand of God up your arse!”

You might be wondering, how do I manage to write such a fastidious and tip heavy amount of notes, while also watching a game unfold before my eyes? Well, I have my own, self-taught variant of shorthand and prompts, but hey! Fook you! Im not giving any of my secrets away. Josh Edwards sent a cross over into Stockport’s area from out on the right, but the ball sat up awkwardly for Luke Berry who could only direct into narrowly over the crossbar and into the Cheadle End.

So half-time came and went and it's still nil-apiece. The Addicks had probably shaded the first-half (just my opinion) but after the break, County were just about in the ascendancy. Kyle Wooton crashed the ball against the crossbar when he looked odds on to score. And he was soon back again, testing Will Mannion, who did well to keep the lively Hatters striker at bay. Camps could only find Row 15 (I counted and you can't prove otherwise) when he sent a curling shot into orbit and well off target

Right at the death, Charlton might have plundered all three points when Karoy Anderson crossed from out on the left, but Macaulay Gillesphey’s glancing header flew narrowly wide.A point apiece didn't harm either team’s promotion/play off aspirations. And though the stats show quite clearly that Stockport had roughly 60% of the possession, Charlton’s disciplined ‘away performance’ warranted a share of the spoils. In particular their stand-out performer in defence, Lloyd Jones, who dealt with with everything County could muster to throw at him, time after time.

I often say that football is a team game, together everyone achieves more, collective responsibility, collective blame, corrective rewards n’ all that, with every man playing his part and getting his fair share of any credit. And as such, I very rarely single out any individual for special praise. But Jones was quite outstanding this afternoon, exceptional to the nth degree for the entire 90+8 minutes. Well played that man.

Some quick trivia before my train home arrives (that’s it just coming into view): 1) People from Stockport are called Stopfordians. 2) Edgeley Park is currently the closest football ground to the River Mersey. I needed to get that one in somehow, before Everton move out of Goodison Park. 3) Stockport Viaduct has 28 arches… and I have just counted them twice to make sure.