Looking for their first win since late August, anything less would have piled the pressure on Stockport — but they duly delivered, writes Saad Nazir.
After a convincing performance last week in the EFL League One against league leaders Cardiff, all eyes were on Dave Challinor and his men to see if they could replicate the intensity away from home.
On a grey and drizzly Saturday afternoon at the New York Stadium, they put in a professional display against a Rotherham side reeling at the bottom of the table to scrape a narrow 1-0 win.
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Stockport, who debuted their navy and white striped away shirts in a competitive fixture for the first time, made two changes to the side that came so close to beating Cardiff a week ago.
Ben Hinchliffe made his first League One appearance of the season in goal, replacing Corey Addai, while Corey O’Keeffe came in for the injured Tyler Onyango.
Hinchliffe was the first of the two keepers to be tested. A quick counter attack by the Millers had Ar’jany Martha feed Joe Powell, whose low shot was smothered by the number one. Stockport responded well and began exerting pressure of their own, and the next big chance would duly fall to the Hatters. A long ball was taken down well by Ollie Norwood, and with the second touch, he released Icelandic forward Beno Andrésson through on goal, whose curler did not do enough to sneak into the net.
They followed this with a good share of possession and control, led by the composed Norwood in the middle of the park. Chances came at both ends as Jack Diamond forced home keeper Cameron Dawson into a save from range, and Zak Jules nodded a Reece James cross past the far post.
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At the interval, Challinor made two changes to his team, and that’s when the game turned. Malik Mothersille and Jayden Fevrier were both introduced to the fray, and the latter added the initiative and pace that was missing in the final third. Fevrier, caused the home defence all sorts of problems, and zipped in a few balls into the box, leading to a growing anticipation in the arena that the first goal was imminent.
And they were not mistaken. The goal arrived within fifteen minutes of the resumption. Odin Bailey’s energetic running in the middle of the park continued to trouble the midfield, and one such run gave him enough space to hit a long-range effort from the edge of the box, which Dawson did well to parry away for a corner. Moments later, though, the home goalkeeper was helpless as the resulting corner ended back in the feet of the taker, Norwood. His inch-perfect delivery back into the box was headed in by Kyle Wootton for his fourth goal of the season.
With momentum on their side, they introduced striker Nathan Lowe, who made an instant impact off the bench. He drew a save from Cameron Dawson with a strike from the edge of the area before side-footing another effort straight at the Millers’ keeper. At the other end, substitute Liam Kelly thought he had struck for Rotherham moments after coming on, only for his close-range finish to be ruled out for offside. The game ended 1-0, with Wootton’s header the only goal of the game.
Though Rotherham played well and had a man-of-the-match performance from 20-year-old midfielder Daniel Gore, it was not sufficient to level the match. The Millers ended the day with nothing to show for a determined performance. Stockport, meanwhile, ensured they clung on until the final whistle and took the all-important three points back to SK3. They ended the day in eighth place, a point away from the coveted play-off spot.
Rotherham will now look to climb out of the relegation zone when they visit Mansfield Town in a week. Stockport face Reading at home and will hope to continue their fine form.
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Header image: By https://efl.com/competitions/efl-league-one, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74689609
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