STOCKPORT CO 2
Wootton 8, Olaofe 76
BURTON ALBION 1
Larsson 89
STAR MAN
TANTO OLAOFE Stockport Co
STOCKPORT County boss Dave Challinor stressed his side need to be better during the run-in after a narrow win over relegation strugglers Burton Albion.
Kyle Wootton and Tanto Olaofe put the Hatters two goals to the good at Edgeley Park.
But Julian Larsson pulled one back late on before Ethan Pye’s sending off left Stockport scrapping to seal the win.
It was a sixth home game without defeat, but it was one Challinor will hope is more a rarity than the norm for the rest of the season.
Challinor admitted: “We weren’t at the races. I don’t want to take anything away from Burton because we knew it would be tougher than the reverse fixture, but we need to be better.
“It was a good start, but we lost our way through ill discipline and poor defending.”
Stockport opened brightly and made their pressure tell as early as the eighth minute. Max Crocombe kept out Will Collar’s sharp effort from the edge of the box, but Kyle Wootton was on hand to head the rebound home.
Crocombe then did well to deny Isaac Olaofe from doubling the County lead five minutes later.
But as the game wore on the visitors posed more of a threat, and Stockport’s Corey Addai produced a fine low save to keep out Owen Dodgson before Ethan Pye denied Charlie Webster a certain equaliser with a block just before the break.
Anthony Forde came close to drawing the visitors level after half-time as Addai palmed his free-kick away.
But the Hatters secured the points 13 minutes from time as Jack Diamond raced clear and teed up Olaofe for the second, the striker calmly slotting under Crocombe from just inside the box.
There was a late scare for the hosts as Albion pulled one back through Julian Larsson, from Jack Stretton’s flick, in stoppage time.
And there was more late drama as Pye was sent off when he picked up his second yellow for a desperate challenge on Kyran Lofthouse, but County held on to secure the three points that cement their place in the play-offs.
Burton boss Gary Bowyer was proud of his players resolve.
He said: “We’ve e had a tough week ek with a couple of juries which disrupted in-plans.
“I have to give the players an enormous amount of credit for what they took on board and how they’ve gone about it.
“We’ve come to a team in the play-offs, who have spent a huge amount of money, and we’ve had a right good go.
“It shows you the difference between the two squads. They’re bringing on Nick Powell who once cost £7m, and we’re talking about lads scoring their first league goal.
“Their goalie’s been the busier of the two. We were really good and we got caught on the counter when we’re chasing an equaliser.
“The lads kept on going. I thought the spirit and togetherness was excellent.”
Challinor said his side needed to stay nerve-free for the rest of the season. “We were ultimately frustrated today and almost undone by our own sloppiness.
“I’ve said it before, the jeopardy increases at this time of the season. There’s always nervousness and you saw that today.”
STOCKPORT: Addai 7, Touray 7, Pye 7, Connolly 7, Knoyle 6, Bate 7 (Moxon 78, 6), Norwood 7, Collar 7 (Powell 65, 6), Fevrier (Diamond 65, 7) Wootton (Horsfall 46, 6), Olaofe 7 (Andrésson 83, 6). Subs not used: Hamilton, Wogan. BURTON: Crocombe 6, Armer 6, Sweeney 7 (Sraha 87), Godwin-Malife 7, Dodgson 7, Chauke 7 (Williams 87), Forde 6 (Stretton 78, 7), Lofthouse 7, McKiernan 6 (Kalinauskas 72, 6), Webster 6, Burrell 6 (Larsson 87). Subs not used: Delap, Isted.
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