Stockport County more than made up for their out of character performance on Wednesday night (13 December) with an emphatic win over Sutton United at Edgeley Park on Saturday (16 December).

The Hatters netted eight goals and kept a clean sheet, in what amounted to the biggest victory for the club since the 1930s.

Such is the scale of this victory - with no less than four goals each in either half - we might have to change our usual match report format to a bullet-point list.

• 1-0 | 6' - Ryan Croasdale lands a header from an Odin Bailey free-kick
• 2-0 | 12' - A matter of minutes later, Kyle Wootton coolly found the end of a pass across the box, with Knoyle and Madden both involved in the goal. 
• 3-0 | 20' - Croasdale bags a brace, firing home a goal with a first touch, following an assist from Camps.
• 4-0 | 23' - Soon after, an unmarked Madden deftly converts a pass from Odin Bailey.
• 5-0 | 53' - Early into the second half, Madden scores again with a powerful header, assisted by Touray's corner.
• 6-0 | 69' - Hardly five minutes after coming on as a substitute for Odin Bailey, Joel Cotterill made it six for County, capitalising on an error by Sutton's keeper, Bouzanis. 
• 7-0 | 86' - In a now familiar maneuver, Tanto made it seven after finding a Touray pass placed from outside the box.
• 8-0 | 90+3' - The game was buried emphatically when County won a penalty for a Sutton handball. Madden converted from the spot to earn a hatrick and end the game resoundingly. 

In his post-match interview, manager Dave Challinor said he was 'super proud' of the performance.

"[We] take huge pleasure in winning the game and reacting as we did. I take no pleasure that it was against Sutton, because you're not going to find a more honest group than Matt, his staff and his players.

"We've been good today - really efficient, really clinical. Our performance was right in terms of what we are as a team."

When talking about the turnaround between Wednesday and Saturday, and how Challinor spoke with the players, the gaffer said: "I don't want to criticise them at all, but I'm honest with them. I would want somebody else to be honest with me…

"We all need to move forward and improve. They dropped their standards on Wednesday and went again from what we are…

"Today wasn't perfect, but when mistakes were made, I saw enough reaction. I didn't see disappointment - I saw brilliant reactions and a desire to play forward."

~

Free from clickbait, pop-up ads and unwanted surveys, Stockport Nub News is a quality online newspaper for our town.

To get our top stories in your inbox each week, subscribe to our free weekly newsletter HERE.

Please consider following Stockport Nub News on Facebook or Twitter