Bolton will have to go to Edgeley Park if they are to make the second round of the FA Cup after being held at home by Stockport.
One big storyline going into this was the return of Antoni Sarcevic. Or so we thought, but it turns out he was injured and would miss out. Presumably that means he’ll be leaving Stockport within the next week…
In a match that highlighted a lot of our strengths and flaws, we were on top in the early exchanges, but Stockport’s first shot, when they were allowed one, led to a goal, George Thomason, who probably could have done better on both goals, saw a backpass pounced upon, Scott Quigley reminded Ian Evatt of what he could do as he scored against his former boss.
We should have had a penalty for handball shortly after the restart, but we made our possession and chances count in the space of a few minutes. Dapo Afolayan, again our best player, produced a superb ball which eventually led to a long awaited goal for Eoin Doyle from open play, and to boost the confidence of other out of form forwards, Elias Kachunga then notched to put us ahead – although for that goal Stockport goalkeeper Ethan Ross has to take the blame, not the best save to start with then Kachunga’s follow-up went under his legs. From there you’d hoped we would push on, but that wasn’t the case, with Stockport using the five added minutes in the first half to draw level, Ben Whitfield finishing off a good move from County, to be fair,
All the chances in the second half were ours, but as has often being the case, we just weren’t able to win the game. Again, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, we just didn’t take our chances, while being good for at least one rubbish goal to concede, and while it’s far preferable to being knocked out there and then, going to Stockport is still very much a banana skin.
The replay will be next week. Tuesday or maybe Wednesday.