Stockport County 3 – 1 Harrogate Town

A season that had promised so much ended in a whimper as Harrogate slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Stockport County.
Town,who were unchanged from Easter Monday, almost took a first minute lead when keeper Ian Ormson sliced a back pass to Alex Metcalfe whose follow up lacked pace,enabling Ormson to recover.
Matt Bloomer headed a Metcalfe free kick at Ormson as Town pressed, but County, with Adriano Moke prominent, began to counter.
Craig MacGillivray had to make two saves in quick succession from early County sub,Iain Howard and shortly afterwards Nicky Platt rattled the Town post.
However, it was Town who enjoyed a purple patch with Liam Hardy collecting a pass from Dwayne Samuels and forcing Ormson into a full length save.
On 35 minutes a Samuels lob down the right found Dominic Rowe who cut inside and unleashed a tremendous cross shot into the far corner.
MacGillivray then silenced the huge home crowd when he made a stupendous save to keep out a Phil Jevons blockbuster,but two goals in stoppage time gave County an interval lead.
Firstly, Town only half cleared a corner to Jevons who drove low into the net through the crowded penalty area,then seconds later MacGillivray made a hash of Anton Brown’s back pass and Scott Duxbury nipped in to score.
Craig Nelthorpe replaced Michael Woods at half time and immediately tested Ormson with a thirty yard drive.
Duxbury then skimmed Town’s bar with a powerful drive and soon Jamie Milligan found Moke in space and his incisive pass created a glorious chance for Kristian Dennis,but MacGillivray redeemed himself with a brilliant point blank save.
Town were given a boost when Kyle Jacobs was red carded after a bad tacke on Nelthorpe,who also received a yellow in the incident.
Unfortunately, Town couldn’t make their numerical advantage count and MacGillivray had to show his mettle to keep out a Jevons free kick from thirty yards.
Dan Clayton and Conor Sellars carved out an opening for Hardy,but he screwed his effort wide
under pressure from Ormson.
With a minute left, retiring County skipper Jevons, sent the 3600 plus crowd home happy when his shot crept over the line despite the best efforts of MacGillivray and Bloomer to keep it out.
Town
1 MacGillivray, 2 Samuels, 3 Merris, 4 Brown (Sellars 60), 5 Bloomer, 6 Heath (c), 7 Rowe, 8 Metcalfe, 9 Worsfold (Woods 24)(Nelthorpe rep Woods 45),10 Hardy, 11 Clayton.
Unused subs, 16 Mallory,17 Taylor. Bookings Rowe,Metcalfe, Nelthorpe.
Scorer Rowe 35 mins. Att 3604
By John Harrison