County 3 Lincoln 2

A game of two halves to finish the regular season at Edgeley Park

Apr 28, 2025

Monday 28 April 2025

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NEXT HOME GAME: Play-off semi-final in May

NEXT AWAY GAME: Wycombe Wanderers – Saturday 3 May, 3pm

Dear County fans, Stopfordians, Lincoln supporters, and anyone else from The Football Family joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Monday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.

Phil Brennan reports on County’s 3-2 victory over Lincoln for us today – a result that lifts Dave Challinor’s men to 3rd going into the final day of the season. A point at Wycombe on Saturday would mean a Saturday lunchtime trip to Leyton Orient or Reading in the first leg of the play-offs (unless Charlton absolutely batter Burton, in which case we’d be going back down to Wycombe on Saturday night).

Tickets are now on sale for my 3rd Desmond’s Comedy Club night at The Fingerpost on Friday 30 May. £15 per person. 7.30pm start. The first two have been great nights full of laughter – come along and see for yourself! Drop me a message and I’ll get you booked in.

We’ve got the hilarious Freddy Quinne opening the show. Co-host of the popular Dead Men Talking podcast (as well as being a regular on the global smash hit Have A Word), Freddy’s an award-winning comedian who regularly performs at many of the biggest and best comedy clubs in the country where he performs his shamelessly opinionated no-holds barred stand up. He’s known for his frank approach and often brutal punchlines, covering everything from topical news to universal truths.

Today’s edition is sponsored by B.J. McKenna & Co Solicitors. A big thank you to Adam. Their sub division, Two Wheel Claims, specialises in assisting clients who have been injured whilst riding their motorbike, bicycle or scooter. If you’ve had an accident on the road, scroll down for further details.

Finally, I’m currently walking every street in Stockport to raise money for mental health charity Mentell. If you’d like to make a donation to help me reach my target, please click here.

Total distance so far: 253.75 miles

Total steps so far: 418,084

Total raised so far: £2,302

Total completed streets so far: 474 (Click here for the full list, which includes reports and photos from every day of the walk.)

Further information on the walk can be found by clicking here.

Des Junior

Photo courtesy of Mike Petch

✍️ Saturday’s match in one word

Metamorphic.

🤔 Pre-match thoughts

As usual (as a fan of almost 60 years) I was a little apprehensive walking to the ground. Lincoln have previous of winning in SK3 on our last day at home. They won 5-4 on my first ever visit to EP, although to be fair we did lift the title that day.

🧐 Post-match thoughts

I’ve said for some months that we’d catch Wycombe, and looking at the table after the game it’s happened. What I hadn’t factored in was how many decisions would help the Welsh club to overtake them too. I have to say that given the chance to finish where we have before a ball was kicked, I would have taken it. I believe that, play-off victory or not, we have had a great season despite the injury issues we have suffered throughout. One thing to perhaps worry about is that this division will be much tougher next time around looking at the teams coming down and the teams coming up, therefore we probably need to win the play-offs.

🔵 Verdict on County

As stated above: metamorphic. What a second half, especially from Fevrier! One thing stands out for me this season and that is how much Challinor has improved as a manager. On the face of it he sometimes appears to pick the wrong starting line-up/formation but over the season he’s proven to have added a Plan B, C and sometimes D to his armour. The game against Lincoln was proof enough of that; indeed several times in the run-in he’s amended line-ups and formations to turn possible defeats into victories/draws.

⚪️ Verdict on Lincoln

Had a plan. Plan worked for 45 minutes. Couldn’t cope with Challinor’s Plan B or C.

🎩 Top Hatter

Has to be Jayden Raymond Fevrier for that second half. Brad Hills a very close second – sign him up!

😈 Top Imp

Ethan Hamilton (11) looked like a future County player to me, especially in the first half.

👂 Atmosphere

Spent the first half in our season ticket seats (LT1). The atmosphere went downhill in line with the first half performance. In accordance with Challinor’s half-time changes we spent the second half in UT1 (using a couple of spare season tickets). In line with the half-time subs the atmosphere improved almost immediately, culminating in the loudest rendition of “Tanto’s on Fire” I think I’ve ever heard in EP.

🙏 Hopes for the rest of the season

As stated above, this is probably the best time to get out of this division based on the teams joining from above and below. Hopefully we’ll finish 3rd or 4th to give us a home tie in the second leg, before winning at Wembley!

😀 Best part of the day

Always a great day when meeting up with friends old and new at EP. Always more enjoyable when County win, Saturday was no different. Love it.

😡 Worst part of the day

Probably getting a text later in the day to say that County can’t go up automatically this season.

26 photos from County’s penultimate home game of 2024-25

The Scarf My Father Wore

Apr 27

Read full story

The British Library receives a copy of every single book published in the UK. In the same fashion, Des Junior believes a detailed record of every County game should be preserved for the history books. So here’s the full story of our 3-2 victory at home to Lincoln City on Saturday 26 April, as told from his County-related WhatsApp groups…

3.23pm: Can I say Corey has stepped up since Ben got injured. Decent keeper in my opinion.

3.24pm: Fuck…

3.25pm: That aged well.

3.26pm: Bit of a mess all round, that.

3.43pm: Lincoln score again. This is all turning into a bit of a disaster isn’t it. Never mind. Play-offs it is.

3.53pm: If you're going to play five defenders then it's a good idea to ask them to defend. Not much point having Touray and Knoyle as our attacking threat.

3.57pm: Fevrier, Tanto and Rydel all warming up, looking like coming on.

4.05pm: That was quick!

4.35pm: Fevrier crosses, Collar scores!

4.39pm: TANTO!!! Another brilliant cross from Fevrier.

9.11pm: I am dancing in the Royal Oak. It’s an end of days moment.

9.13pm: How have you ended up in there then?

9.16pm: Erm. The magic of Castle Street?

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Photo of the day

Edgeley Park, Stockport

I got to dress up as Vernon Bear yesterday!

Very honoured to be a special guest at Parker Cash’s 4th birthday party, entertaining him and his little mates for a couple of hours. (Well, I say “entertain”. I mainly stood in goal and had 25 children kick footballs at me.)