Match Report

FC United’s unbeaten home run ended at 12 games as Stockport County became the first team since Blyth Spartan’s in September to leave Broadhurst Park with three points.

In an often-scrappy game, on what looked like a heavy pitch, Matty Warburton’s first half strike for County was the difference between the two teams.

County had begun the game well and when Warburton slotted home Darren Stephenson’s cross after 16 minutes it wasn’t against the run of the early play.

But FC United grew into the game, eventually looking the more likely to score in the second half but found a very organised and well drilled Stockport defence too difficult to break through. The first half saw some good pressure from the Reds and good efforts from McCarthy, Glynn and Irwin all went close.

In the second half both teams looked to get more and more tired as the famous Manchester weather made the pitch even heavier on the legs, but the Reds were reduced to efforts from outside the box which called County ‘keeper Ben Hinchcliffe into action.

That being said, it was the visitors who had the best chance to add to the score when substitute Rhys Turner broke on the counter attack, but when he got to Allinson his low effort was well saved keeping it at a one goal game.

FC had good chances late on with both Danny Racchi and Kieran Glynn both seeing their efforts from outside the box pawed away by Hinchcliffe with the feeling being that perhaps the pressure we’d put on probably deserved to take a point from the game at least.

The loss ends the impressive home run, but fortress Broadhurst has far from been conquered and the Reds will no doubt be looking to get back to winning ways when we welcome Gainsborough Trinity.

The defeat saw the third successive league game where FC United have failed to find the back of the net and that’s something we need to put right next weekend at AFC Telford, where our FA Cup journey ended earlier in the season.

Website man of the match: Steve Irwin – A real scrappy game with no real standouts on the pitch. But when Irwin had the ball he looked most likely to make something happen and was dropping off around the pitch looking to be the catalyst to get FC United back into the game.

Report by Craig Phillips