One of the most eye-catching results in The EFL this weekend came at the Select Car Leasing Stadium in Berkshire, where Stockport County ran out 1-3 winners away at Reading.
Early goals from Issac Olaofe and Callum Connolly gave the visitors a 0-2 lead within the opening quarter of an hour, before substitute Jack Diamond added a third twenty minutes from time to ensure Stockport County returned to the playoff places in style, leapfrogging their hosts.
The Reading Chronicle picked out just how impressed County manager Dave Challinor was with the way his side battled for 90 minutes:
“It was a really big one [win]. It’s a great place to come, a former Premier League ground. I know they’ve had their problems but it’s a brilliant arena to play football in.”
“I spoke last week about the positives we could take from the Crystal Palace game and we spoke about it at half-time,” Challinor said. “We got ourselves in a winning position and when we were a block last week, we made it really difficult for a Premier League team to get through us. Our shape, out of possession, was to force them into certain areas.”
Stockport are only now in the top six on goal difference, and most of the sides below them do have a game important, so it is critical they now go on a winning run to keep themselves up there. Two home matches against struggling Crawley and Shrewsbury will be seen as a perfect chance to pick up six points and really put pressure on those around them to match their winning form.
County are also having to adapt to life without Louie Barry, who was recalled by Aston Villa, after scoring an impressive 15 league goals in the first half of the season, propelling their playoff charge with his clinical touch.
But Saturday saw a well-drilled side tactically outclass an established side at this level, something that can leave the visitors in good stead if they keep defying the odds from now till May:
“They’re a possession-based team and Lewis Wing has a big impact on how they play and how the game runs, so we evidently were going to try and stop that. I thought we pressed and stopped him really well and on the back of that made opportunities through our press and got ourselves chances.
“We could’ve had more than what we did but to score from two set pieces which we worked hard at is pleasing. Putting us in a winning position at half time, it was important then that we managed the position and tried to remain positive and on the front foot to get a third goal.”
Writers View
Stockport County’s win over Reading will have been a huge boost to the players, after previously not winning any of their last four league matches.
It’s that stage of the season where consistency is key however, so they will need to follow that up with victory over Crawley on Saturday.
