Michael Skubala admitted the game against Stockport County was difficult to plan for, with a number of factors affecting our preparation.
City won 3-1 thanks to a late double from Tendayi Darikwa and Alfie Lloyd, but Stockport certainly looked a decent side. Former Imp Jack Diamond cancelled out Jack Moylan’s opener, and for probably the first time over the last 20 matches, the outcome didn’t feel certain by any means with a few minutes left on the clock.
Stockport were certainly fresher, having not played in ten days or so, the same period we’ve had a trip to Cardiff, then one at Exeter. Not only that, but Dave Challinor attempted to outwit us with a change of shape, throwing some of our prep into doubt.
“I think when you play a team that hasn’t played for 10, 12 days, whatever it is, they’re fresh, which is different to us,” said Michael. “Then they can come with something different tactically because they’ve planned for something. They came with a shape change that was difficult for us to plan for.
“I actually thought we started really, really well. We started brightly, we looked the brighter team and took our first goal well. But then it became a tough game. I think they’re a good opposition. They’re up there for a reason because they’re very good. They’re physical, they’re strong.”
They certainly are, but they have good footballers as well. Adama Sidibeh caught my eye, a player we’ve been linked with before, but Ollie Norwood, Ben Osborn and Odin Bailey are all hugely talented as well. That meant we had to ‘suffer’ a bit at times, according to our record-breaking head coach.
“We had to suffer a little bit at times and they got a bit of territory on us. But whenever we looked like us and put the ball in the box with some quality and got behind them, we looked like we could score from throw-ins and corners. We looked a real threat on that.
“In the end it was a tough game, but I’m really pleased to get the three points.”
One point would have seen our unbeaten league run extend to 20 games, three sees us protect the run and steal further ahead in the League One promotion hunt.
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