STOCKPORT COUNTY 2, FOREST GREEN ROVERS 1
(after extra time)
Stockport County began their Emirates FA Cup campaign with a victory after extra time at Edgeley Park against non-league Forest Green Rovers that saw them progress to the second round for the fifth year running.
The meeting with the high-flying National League visitors – and, as it happened, the Hatters’ 300th game in football’s oldest competition – required an additional half-hour’s play after a late equaliser for the visitors had cancelled out Fraser Horsfall’s opener, but substitute Kyle Wootton, with his sixth goal in all competitions, settled matters during the first period after 90 minutes.
The Hatters took to the field on a mild, cloudy afternoon, showing eight changes from their League One starting line-up that had faced Reading in SK3 four days earlier. Only Horsfall – who, at the outset, took the captain’s armband in Lewis Bate’s stead – Jack Diamond and one-time FGR loanee Tyler Onyango survived as starters, although half a dozen players, including Bate, who had featured in the midweek match were named among the nine substitutes permitted for the Cup.
The County bench also included the hugely welcome presence of Ryan Rydel and Macauley Southam-Hales, who were both making their first squad appearances of 2024/25 after recovering from long-term injuries.
The visitors – with whom County had rubbed shoulders as fellow League Two competitors the previous season – included on their five-player bench a former Hatter in striker Harry Cardwell, who had spent time at EP, while on loan from Chorley, during 2021.
County fashioned the first chance of the afternoon with just over five minutes played. A long throw from the right by Michael Mellon – making his inaugural competitive start as a Hatter – found Onyango, who headed wide in front of the near post.
A couple of minutes later, the visitors went a tad closer when a curling shot from Tom Knowles was heading towards the top-right corner of the net until Ben Hinchliffe, with back arched, brilliantly tipped the effort over.
The Hatters tried their luck from distance, with Tayo Adaramola – on his first County appearance in over a month – and Ollie Norwood firing respectively high and wide, but, just after the half-hour, lost to injury the services of the luckless Mellon, who had already missed the first six weeks or so of the season-proper after suffering cartilage damage during the summer friendlies schedule.
Shortly afterwards, Diamond stung the hands of visiting goalkeeper, Jamie Searle – and, in the closing minutes ahead of the break, Tanto Olaofe stole in to poke the ball beyond the left post, before a low shot from Odin Bailey who, like Onyango, had formerly spent time on loan in Nailsworth. was tipped by Searle around the opposite upright.
County, having enjoyed the greater share of possession over the first half, began the second in similar vein – albeit without creating attempts of note until shortly before the hour-mark, when a fiercely struck Jayden Fevrier shot hit unfortunate defender Jamie Robson full in the face.
With Bate on the field following the first-half loss of Mellon, Horsfall was no longer formally acting as skipper, but in the 63rd minute, he truly led by example to break the deadlock, meeting Bate’s free-kick from the left, chesting down the ball while to the far side of goal and lashing home an angled volley to give County the lead.
The Hatters then brought on Rydel and Southam-Hales to acclaim closely matching in volume that of the cheers which had greeted Horsfall’s goal – and later introduced Ibby Touray and Wootton in the hope of keeping the tie safe.
But, with seven minutes of normal time remaining, the visitors levelled through a substitute of their own – as Christian Doidge, only two minutes after coming on, seized upon a loose ball in the County box and fired into the roof of the net. And, shortly afterwards, Cardwell went close to haunting his old club with an overhead kick that narrowly cleared the Cheadle End crossbar.
In the course of a whopping nine minutes added on, Horsfall headed narrowly and agonisingly wide of the left post and, with replays now scrapped beyond the cup’s qualifying rounds, extra time duly followed.
The first period of extra time, in its opening seconds, saw County go close, as Olaofe was played through on goal – only to have his close-range shot blocked by Searle.
Then, in the seventh minute, the Hatters got their noses back in front, after Olaofe, having been fed on the left by Bailey, cut in, and, on this occasion, got the better of Searle, who could only parry the striker’s shot across the goalmouth where Wootton lay in wait to tap into an empty net.
In the second period, Searle was tested with a Bailey shot from the edge of the area that the ‘keeper fumbled over the by-line – before diving to parry Rydel’s header from the resulting corner. And Fevrier dragged two efforts wide of the right post – firstly, following a mazy run, and, subsequently, following a lay-off by Olaofe.
At the other end, with seven extra-time minutes still to play, Touray deflected beyond the right stick a low shot from Knowles. But, ultimately, the scorers were not troubled further ahead of the final whistle that signalled County’s place in the hat for the Round Two draw later during the weekend.
Goals: Horsfall (63), Wootton (97) for Stockport. Doidge (83) for Forest Green.
Stockport County (4-2-3-1): Hinchliffe; Onyango (Wootton 76), Horsfall, Hughes, Adaramola (Rydel 66); Bailey, Norwood (Southam-Hales 66); Diamond (Touray 76), Mellon (Bate 31), Fevrier; Olaofe. Subs (unused): Addai, Collar, Connolly, Fiorini.
Attendance: 4,624 (183 visitors).
Report: Gareth Evans.