Rochdale 1 County 2
W W W W W (No witty subheading needed today, our February form will suffice)
Wednesday 22 February 2023
In February 2022, County needed an 84th minute winner from Paddy Madden to get past rock-bottom Dover; we were 2-0 down at home to Southport in February 2019 before coming back to win; a Shrewsbury team who would be relegated that season led 1-0 with 15 minutes to go at Edgeley Park in February 1997 before Angell and Armstrong came to the rescue.
Even in a promotion campaign, you’ll have matches that don’t go completely according to plan. There will be occasions when you can take the piss like when you’re beating Millwall 5-1 or winning 6-0 at Chester but sometimes, even if you’re facing a doomed Rochdale team heading for the National League, at this stage of the season you’ve just got to grind out a result. That’s what we did last night. It wasn’t pretty, but it feels like another hugely important moment, as we climb from 6th to 4th. Come Saturday, we could be in the automatic promotion places.
I thought I might struggle to find a Rochdale fan willing to relive their 22nd defeat of the season last night, so fair play to Dean for stepping up. Thanks also to John Bourke, one of 3,000 in the away end last night.
Tomorrow night we’re all off to Bask for the first ever ‘County Comedy Quiz’. A huge thank you to everyone who’s bought tickets so far. If anyone else is free, come down and join me and Benji for a top night out. We’ve got a cracking quiz. We’ve got great prizes. We’ve got Paul Jones joining us for the evening. We’ve even got a little bit of stand-up comedy as well. All that for a fiver. Click here to join us.
Finally, a big thank you to Mark Saint for sponsoring today’s edition. If you’re after a new tattoo, give him a call.
Enjoy today’s issue.
Des Junior
Yesterday’s match in one word:
Dean - Expected.
John - Routine.
Pre-match thoughts:
Dean - I was fearing the worst. Felt like it could have been humiliating for us.
John - I said on the way to the match that we’d either wallop them or get beat. Shows what I know.
Post-match thoughts:
Dean - A defeat for Rochdale, just as I expected. Only surprising thing is that it was only by the one goal. Even though that scoreline flattered Rochdale’s performance.
John - Job done and I genuinely think we can get second place, never mind third. I honestly don’t think we’ve played that well lately and we’re still picking up wins. Once the injured players are back I expect us to get better.
Verdict on Rochdale:
Dean - A typical Dale performance. Devoid of quality. Boring to watch. Poorly managed. Woeful in possession. Woeful out of possession. It’s got to the point that I borderline don’t even care anymore. It’s that’s bad I couldn’t even muster any enthusiasm to celebrate our goal.
John - Looked OK in the first half without creating much but I fear for them. I think they’ll go down and will definitely struggle in the Vanarama.
Verdict on County:
Dean - County had far more quality than a woeful Dale side, but I was a little underwhelmed with you if I’m being honest. Thought you made hard work of a game that should have been straightforward for you.
John - I don’t think we were great; first half we were a bit slow and Rochdale seemed up for it but a nice move for the penalty and a howler from their keeper put us at ease. Even though they scored I didn’t really think they’d get an equaliser.
Top Dale:
Dean - Toby Mullarkey once again. One of the very few Dale players with some quality.
John - Lloyd was good in patches but drifted in and out of the game. Same with Devante Rodney.
Top Hatter:
Dean - Will Collar. Scored your two goals, that in the end won you the game. Not only that, I thought he ran the midfield all game.
John - Collar obviously for his two goals but I thought Knoyle played well too. Davenport looked a tidy player when he came on so that’s encouraging.
Atmosphere:
Dean - From a Rochdale perspective quite toxic and deflated, especially when the second went in. County fans, as you would expect with almost 3,000, were loud.
John - Decent. A great turnout and it was nice not to be surrounded by any dickheads which is always a bonus! It’s so much better standing up at away games and it really adds to the atmosphere.
Hopes for the rest of the season:
Dean - I have no hopes anymore. I accepted relegation on Saturday. We will be a National League club next season.
John - Play-offs as an absolute minimum but we’re definitely looking at automatic now. Orient are too far ahead but Stevenage are within reach. I’ll be happy with anything above 7th though.
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 2-1 victory at Rochdale on Tuesday 21 February 2023, as told from his three County-related WhatsApp groups…
7.47pm: We’re up to 4th already!
7.57pm: This referee is a prick. It’s the same one who absolutely butchered our draw with Southampton in 2009.
8.25pm: I can see why Dale are having problems this season. Just that bit too slow to make the most of chances.
8.40pm: Frustrating half really. All us but we need to mix it up a bit. Everything is going down our right but they’re defending so deep that they can deal with crosses into the box all night. Every ball is in front of their defenders.
9.00pm: Clear penalty. Their keeper’s reaction says it all.
9.03pm: 2-0!
9.04pm: 🎶 Sacked in the morning, you’re getting sacked in the morning… 🎶
9.29pm: Fuck. Poor defending that. Looked like it went in off Collar, might be wrong.
9.40pm: Peep!
9.41pm: Phew!
11.32pm: We’re going to leapfrog someone into third on the final day at EP, and Challinor is going to send Hartlepool down in the process, isn’t he…
Thinking of getting a tattoo?
It might be a bit early to get ‘Stockport County 2022-23 Promotion Winners’ forever etched on your body (don’t be like one of those City weirdos you read about in the Manchester Evening News) but if Dave Challinor does take us up once again this season and you want to mark the achievement with a tattoo, be sure to give Mark Saint a call. In the meantime, if you’re thinking of having something else tattooed, have a chat with Mark. He’s got lots of fantastic designs to choose from.
Click here for contact details.
Capturing County’s 68th trip to Rochdale for posterity, as a cheeky number 69 at Spotland might not be happening for a very long time
Here’s something you should definitely do in February
Buy tickets for The County Comedy Quiz at Bask!
The Scarf My Father Wore editor, Des Junior, absolutely loves a County quiz. He’s alright at compiling County quizzes as well. Rightly or wrongly, he also fancies himself as a bit of a comedian. On that note, The Scarf My Father Wore are delighted to team up with Bask to bring you The Comedy County Quiz. It’s a proper County quiz, with some fantastic prizes on offer, but our aim is to crack you up with some of the questions along the way.
We’ve also got special guest Paul Jones joining us. The former County defender, and Bolton Wanderers legend, will be speaking on the night, as well as handing out the prizes to the winners!
Click here for our full list of things you should definitely do in February!
Never mind Google or Yell.com, we’ve got you covered
STOP! That got your attention, didn’t it? Just a quick one… I’d hazard a guess that at some point in February, all of our readers will use Google or Yell.com at some point looking for a particular product or service. But before you do, please have a quick look at our own directory to see if we have what you’re looking for. A number of great businesses support The Scarf My Father Wore, allowing us to publish fresh content every day, so let’s send a few enquiries their way in return.
Click here to have a look at all the businesses in our directory.
Photo of the day
The Willbutts Lane Stand, Spotland
Goosebumps.
On this day in 2020
It was good to see Danny Lloyd again last night (you can say things like that once you’ve won the game). Lloyd scored 30 goals for County during two spells at Edgeley Park, and the last of those was on this very day back in 2020, in a 1-1 draw at Woking just before the season was suspended due to Covid.