Wanderers saw their four-game winning home run come to an end as top-six rivals Stockport completed a double to greatly enhance their own play-off push, writes Pete Oliver.
There was little to separate two sides who had been five goals apart when Stockport handed the Whites their worst defeat of the season back in November.
But a piece of quality from County striker Tanto Olaofe 20 minutes from the end was enough to decide the outcome in the favour of a Stockport side which showed why they had lost only twice in the league since Boxing Day.
Wanderers had their moments, but on an afternoon when the first goal always likely to be crucial, it was Stockport who got it to bolster their hopes of back-to-back promotions while Steven Schumacher’s men must group over the international break to renew their push for a top-six finish over the final nine games.
Whites’ boss Schumacher made five changes to his starting line-up following a mid-week loss at Brisol Rovers, including a first league start under his charge for goalkeeper Nathan Baxter.
And while it was Wanderers who forced the early pace - and could have had a penalty when Aaron Collins was pulled in the box - Baxter had to make one excellent save to smother an effort from Benony Andresson to prevent the Norwegian putting Stockport ahead on his first start for the club.
It was a case of nearly but not quite for the Whites as Joel Randall – another given a starting chance – dragged an effort wide from a Collins’ flick-on and the visitors occasionally lived on their nerves at the back.
Collins had a couple of goes at goal himself following a patiently worked free-kick but not surprisingly given a gap of just one place and two points between the sides at kick-off there wasn’t much in it as they grappled for supremacy in the opening half-hour.
Wanderers looked to wind it up just before the break as captain George Thomason led by example with some marauding runs from a new position as a left-sided central defender and County were perhaps fortunate to reach half-time with 11 men with Kyle Knoyle, who had clattered Jordi Osei-Tutu in the opening minutes, avoiding a second booking for pulling back John McAtee.
It was no shock, therefore, to see Dave Challinor swap his right-back at the start of the second half as one of three substitutions made by the County boss, although that didn’t stop Osei-Tutu bursting clear to set up Collins for a chance he steered over the top from the Whites’ best opening so far.
Corey Addai should at least have been asked to make a save and it was Baxter at the other end who again had to show his worth as Stockport broke, spreading himself to deny substitute Kyle Wootton an opener.
It was hard going for Wanderers against banks of blue shirts as they lacked some of their recent zip and as Schumacher prepared to make a double change to try and inject some energy and give the visitors something different to think about Baxter was forced into another top-class save to keep out Jayden Fevrier’s top corner-bound effort.
Stockport were the side in the ascendency and with just under 20 minutes to go they made the breakthrough. Olaofe had been a handful all afternoon and he got his rewards with an excellent run and assured finish which this time gave Baxter no chance.
Wanderers responded with a spell of pressure in which substitutes Klaidi Lolos and Carlos Mendes Gomes tried to help unlock the door and Josh Sheehan had an effort touched over the bar from another Osei-Tutu delivery.
Sheehan then delivered a magnificent long-range pass to pick out Collins, who was denied by the legs of Addai with a couple of minutes to go.
But Stockport invariably had everyone behind the ball in their quest to protect their lead and the Whites couldn’t negotiate their way through a packed penalty area to find a way to avoid a first home defeat of the Schumacher reign.
Wanderers: Baxter; Toal (Forrester 78), Forino, Thomason, Dacres-Cogley (Schön 87), Morley (Matete 70), Sheehan, Osei-Tutu; Randall (Lolos 78); Collins, McAtee (Mendes Gomes 70). Substitutes: Southwood, Jones.
Booked: McAtee, Matete, Schön
Stockport: Addai; Knoyle (Connolly HT), Hills, Pye, Rydel (Touray, HT); Collar, Norwood (Moxon 67), Bate, Camps (Fevrier 66), Andresson (Wootton, HT); Olaofe. Substitutes: Metcalfe, Cosgrove.
Booked: Knoyle, Camps, Bate, Moxon
Referee: Ben Toner
Attendance: 24,571 (2,638 Stockport)