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| Thank the Lord: County get their first win of the season |
By Chris Larkin
There are games that change seasons.
County have had many such days - Plymouth in 1996, Cheltenham in 2006, Fleetwood in 2011 and Saturday, Gainsborough in 2013.
Today was one of those days that give you renewed belief and confidence. Not before time.
Stockport County ran out comfortable 3-1 winners at home. Those words have been waiting too long to be written this season.
With the County line up featuring the newly acquired Danny Gosset, on loan from Oldham Athletic, the game started with the home team on the back-foot. The visitors, despite their lowly league position, came at County from the off, obviously not wanting to allow the home team any forward momentum.
They forced Ormson into a bit of quick thinking a couple of times early on and thr young keeper did well to keep the scores level before they won their first corner of the game which was confidently dealt with by an otherwise shaky looking defence.
It wasn't long before the Hatters found their confidence though and were soon peppering the Holy Blues box.
County had some very good chances as both Howard and Dennis came close to giving the Hatters a lead but they found it impossible to break down the Lincolnshire team's robust backline.
County were almost made to pay for their wastefulness as the visitors caught them on the break, a chance that required Ormson to come storming out of his area to clear the danger following a great ball to the on-coming Trinity striker.
That counter attack seemed to spark the visiting team into life as they forced Ormson into a couple of good saves in quick succession and it was only some last ditch defending by the home defence that kept them out.
But it wasn't long before County were in the ascendancy once more - Kristian Dennis forcing a smart save out of the visiting Goalkeeper to give County a corner and really pile on the pressure.
The Hatters had another half chance that was cleared and their chances of getting that elusive goal before half time looked to have gone. But Rhys Turner had other ideas and kept the chance alive with a ball to Kyle Jacobs who played in Dennis.
The striker, only just back from injury, unleashed a beautiful strike beyond the helpless reach of the Gainsborough 'keeper to send the County fans into raptures and send the Hatters in at half time with a deserved advantage.
Clearly hurting from conceding just before the break, the Trinity players came out with renewed vigour. They won a corner almost immediately but wasted the opportunity and then gave County the space to rediscover the attacking flair that served them so well in the first half.
Left back O'Halloran had a shot cleared off the line and, a minute later, Aman Verma was once again cursing his luck as he had an effort cleared off the line for a corner.
The disappointment didn't last too long though as, though the corner was cleared, some more good work from Rhys Turner gave him the room to cross the ball for Phil Jevons to score his first County goal - a low header into the bottom corner.
With the momentum firmly behind the Hatters, they looked to extend their lead as Howard and Dennis were unlucky not to add to County's advantage.
In typical County fashion though, despite all the home side's pressure, Gainsborough managed to pull a scrappy goal back against the run of play following a goalmouth scramble.
Some Keystone Cops style defending, with almost every player trying to get a foot on the ball in the County box, saw the ball fall at the feet of Gainsborough's Lacey who poked the ball home amid the chaos.
Following the goal, substitutions were swift, with Adriano Moke replacing the impressive Rhys Turner and, shortly afterwards, Myerscough Alumni Bobby Lofthouse and Scott Duxbury came on for Kristian Dennis and Iain Howard.
County continued to push forward and looked to put the game to bed as they made progress towards the visitors goal with Adriano Moke finding Phil Jevons who found himself in the visitors box with just a single defender between him and the goal.
Jevons skipped forwards and was tripped by the Gainsborough defender to give County a penalty and the chance to put some gloss on the scoreline.
Jevons doubled his tally for the day, placing his kick confidently in the bottom corner of the net beyond the reach of the keeper.
As soon as the visitors kicked off the referee blew for full time and County had finally, at the Sixth time of asking, got their first win as a Conference North side.
Thank the Lord.
Attendance: 2,802
County Line-up: Ormson, Jacobs, Fagbola, Charnock, O'Halloran, Turner (Moke), Verma, Gosset, Howard (Duxbury), Dennis (Lofthouse), Jevons
Unused Subs: Jones, Tunnicliffe
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