By Hatter in Macc
The good townspeople of Ramsbottom witnessed two lightning strikes yesterday.
The first was in the form of a bolt during the early morning thunderstorm, which tore through the roof and exploded part of the tower belonging to St Andrew’s Church; and the second in the space of twenty-five crazy, goal-filled minutes at the Harry Williams Riverside Stadium, culminating in a victory for the visiting Stockport County side that, an hour into the game, would have seemed impossible.
Earlier in the evening, the torrential downpour, which had greeted our arrival in the tree-lined West Pennine valley that houses the ground, thankfully subsided to leave us with rain-free, albeit still rather humid, match conditions.
Somewhat different weather, then, than the baking sunshine in which County’s previous three friendlies had been played – although, remember, we were now in Lancashire, rather than Cheshire – and this latest fixture, borne from the link between Alan Lord and Rammy’s Manager, Anthony Johnson, who had played under Lordy whilst at Atherton Collieries, also saw the hosts clad in red and black...a refreshing change from the green worn by our three previous sets of opponents.
County took to the field with, what looked on paper, their strongest starting line-up yet, without a trialist to be seen:
Ormson, Jacobs, O’Halloran, Fagbola, Charnock, Hand, Windsor, Craney, Jevons, Dennis, Turner.
All the more disappointing, then, was a first half that saw Rammy, plying their trade at two levels below the Conference North, dominate proceedings to such an extent that the hosts’ two-goal lead at half-time rather flattered County.
The lead had been taken on 32 minutes - much to the double-annoyance of your correspondent, whose draw-ticket for the time of the game’s first goal was 120 seconds out - when a well taken free kick by Grant Spencer flew in.
Clearly no lessons were learned earlier in the game by County, as a dead ball attempt from the same player a quarter of an hour earlier had struck the post and, indeed, would have been the opener had Ormson not got a touch to it first.
Rammy’s second had followed at the worst possible time, just a minute before the interval, when pocket-sized midfield dynamo, Phil Dean, tied the visiting defence in knots to rifle home.
At this point, I was texting my friends and fellow County fans in as near-downbeat mood as it’s possible for me to muster.
Ok, so it was still only a friendly – but, then again, it was our fourth against lower-tier opposition, and I was seeing no signs of our squad starting to gel. Without doubt, a good half-time talk-cum-rollicking was needed...
As the second half began, an unchanged County side did look, at least, as if they had managerial words of some sort ringing in their ears, and started to inject a little more pace and urgency into the game.
All to no avail initially, though, as Rammy, also still full of running, split the visiting defence to make it 3-0 on the hour, courtesy of Tom Brooks.
Not a happy state of affairs. But cometh the hour, cometh the man...and, within a minute, Rhys Turner had opened his goal-scoring account, popping one in off the post. At least we had something to savour on the drive home.
Within another five minutes, it really was all happening, as Kristian Dennis was on target following a corner. Two consolation goals...now, that seemed a great deal more respectable.
With ten minutes to go, another free kick hit the back of the net. Not one of Grant Spencer’s this time, mind, but a Phil Jevons effort. County, against all odds and expectations, were level.
And the game was drawing to a close, with the fifty or so away supporters preparing themselves for their homeward journeys and feeling pretty chuffed with a share of the friendly spoils, when that man Dennis, from the edge of the area, chipped in a beauty to secure his fifth goal in three appearances and, moreover, a most unlikely victory for County.
Full-time: Ramsbottom 3, County 4.
A turning-point for the newly-assembled squad? Possibly. A morale-boosting win? Certainly.
The playing pool still needs further strengthening for sure, and the four or five players yet to be brought in will be key, but, while a narrow win against an Evo-Stick Division 1 North side shouldn’t see us getting carried away just yet, a comeback from three goals down surely can't fail to stir the most hardened heart.
Pure footballing theatre, at whatever level. And a decent night out for a fiver.
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