Salford City were beaten by Stockport County in thrilling fashion as penalties were the only way to separate the two sides.
In a game of two halves, Salford had the measure of the Hatters in the first, but had any handywork undone in the second which forced the match to go the distance.
The opening ten minutes saw plenty of Salford freekicks and misplaced passes from Stockport who were potentially feeling the nerves of the occasion.
The Ammies created a handful of early chances in the opening ten minutes, with the pick of the bunch coming from an Ibou Touray cross that Callum Hendry met impressively, but only managed to feed the ball straight down the keeper’s throat.
A revival looked on the cards for Stockport around the 20th minute, but that soon faded marred by frustrations towards the referee for Salford’s relaxed approach to restarting play.
Since that moment Salford continued to dominate, forcing headers and shots at Hinchliffe’s goal; their main issue, finding the corners of the net as every chance had been catching practice so far.
Although frustrated, Stockport had by no means rolled over, popping up with constant half-chance reminders that they were down on aggregate, but not out. Salford’s target man Matty Smith was clearly also Stockport’s target man for their defence being tightly man marked, but to County’s anger, drawing plenty of fouls.
By half-time the County fans were playing their partisan part, rage-fuelled by a sense of injustice as constant free-kicks were awarded the way of the Ammies.
The highlight of their half came in the 42nd minute as a free-kick to the Hatters was met with rapturous cheers followed by a battle cry in support of the men in blue and against the officials.
Despite this Salford were standing strong, notably Theo Vassell who dominated the back line like a general leading his troops into battle. However, the longer the half drew out, the more the Stockport pressure was applied with the Hatters getting closer to that all important goal.
Then came the chance to completely alter the face of the game when Paddy Madden crashed a header of the bar in the fourth minute of injury time. With the ball bouncing down into the box, it was only a miracle that kept Cairns’ goal untouched as Salford scrambled to clear.
The Ammies needed half time and were clearly relieved to hear the whistle blow just when County had found their feet. Blue boos from the Cheadle End echoed around Edgeley park, aimed at the officials and the smiling Alex Cairns who had been in no rush to take his goal-kicks.
The second half resumed in the same way it had started, with Salford on top. Luke Bolton could have scored within the first minute as he was played through for a one on one with Hinchliffe who spread himself well to continue his fine performance.
After fifteen minutes of fairly cagey football Stockport boss Dave Challinor had seen enough making three changes on the hour mark with Collar, Sarcevic and Croasdale all entering the fray. This proved instantly effective as Collar and Croasdale combined from a freekick to almost bundle the ball in.
The game changing moment arrived eight-minutes later when, in a game littered with crosses and met by wasted headers, one finally found its mark, but for the side in the blue. Rydel’s teasing cross was met delightfully by Stockport striker Isaac Olaofe who with a deft touch found the far corner of Cairn’s goal and Edgeley Park errupted into carnival-like pandemonium.
In one moment the entire fixture had transformed. Salford could no longer rely on running down the clock to irritate the Stockport players and manager Neil Wood made his move bringing on Barry and Lund for Hendry and McAleny.
From the moment the Hatters scored the Ammies were penned in their own half, a task that needed tough skin to resist the onslaught of the Edgeley Park furnace.
A few yellow cards and half-chances followed, but nothing of notice until Luke Bolton decided he would do it himself, running the ball out from his own box round the entire Stockport team and into their penalty area where a man on fire was extinguished by Hinchliffe, who had been County’s firefighter all day, in a narrow one-on-one.
As six minutes of injury time was announced so was the attendance that read a 10,023 crowd at a noisy Edgeley Park.
In comparison to the rest of the match, the game petered out without drama as minds were cast towards extra time and potential penalties. The tie entered extra-time with Vassell showing his battle wounds with a bandaged head.
The first chance unsurprisingly went to Salford, who seemed to enjoy the restarts, as Bolton fought off two defenders in blue to latch onto a long ball that he struck low but not fiercely enough to beat Hinchliffe.
As per normal service dictated in this game, County then started to grow back into the fixture until Salford had the chance to take back the lead and potentially book a trip to the capital when Barry beat Stockport’s keeper to a ball over the top lofting it over his head.
Bound for the back of the net, Hussey intervened with a goal saving clearance. The affair remained cagey as the players entered the second half of extra-time.
Without any hint the game exploded into pure football league heritage as a Stevie Mallan strike from long range was deflected into the far corner to give Salford the lead to the delight of the travelling support.
Unfortunately for the fans in red their celebrations were cut short by the sheer determination and drive from Stockport to find an equaliser from somewhere that came in the 115th minute.
Edgeley Park was rocking and the Hatters now had the front foot, only being prevented the winner by a jaw-dropping Cairns save that tipped a header from Madden onto the post proving the final chance before the harsh lottery draw of Penalties.
In a game of ups and downs, the shoot-out was no different. Salford missed their first two with Lund firing over and Mariappa seeing his saved. County converted with aplomb until Cairns gave the Ammies hope with a big save on the third.
Once again, however this hope was in vain as Mallan saw his penalty also saved as Sarcevic converted the final penalty to sent Stockport County to Wembley and Edgeley Park wild. An exodus of the stands led to a deafening pitch invasion of impressive proportions.
FT – Our season comes to an end with the heartbreak of a penalty shoot-out defeat.
[2-1] [3-1 After Penalties] 🦁🔴 pic.twitter.com/ktZGVUZJgn
— Salford City FC (@SalfordCityFC) May 20, 2023
The Salford players headed off down the tunnel dejected and will have to wipe themselves down to go again next year in League Two. The Hatters have booked their ticket to Wembley on the 28th May where they will play Bradford or Carlisle.
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