Sunday saw Stockport County winning the National League title and earning their right to play EFL football next season. Stockport just needed a single point from their game against Halifax Town to bag the top spot and claim automatic promotion. Everything went according to plan and Stockport won the game 2-0 meaning that the Hatters have ended their 11-year exile from the Football League.
Stockport made a great start when Paddy Madden scored a fine strike after just ten minutes of play, and the game was effectively settled once Will Collar hit the back of the net just after the half-time break. Come the final whistle there was a carnival atmosphere among the 10,307 crowd and Dave Challinor’s side can relax after a hard-fought season.
Things didn’t go according to plan for second-placed Wrexham who suffered a 3-0 away defeat to Dagenham and Redbridge. The game was evenly poised and goalless at half-time but Junior Morias put Dagenham ahead in the 55th minute before Paul McCullum and Matt Robinson sealed the victory.
Wrexham’s loss means that they will go into the play-offs as they bid to return to the Football League for the first time since 2008. While Dagenham will have been pleased with their performance, it wasn’t enough to put them into the play-off places and they ended up just one point short of Chesterfield despite having superior goal difference.
Both Wrexham and third-placed Solihull Moors will get a bye to the National League play-off semi-finals that take place on 28 and 29 May. Solihull bagged third place with a fine 3-0 win over Boreham Wood. It was the fifth win on the bounce for Solihull and the goals came from Kyle Hudlin, Joe Sbarra and Adam Rooney.
While Halifax failed to pick up a point at Stockport, they still clung onto fourth place and will play Chesterfield in the play-offs on 24 May. Chesterfield played out a 0-0 draw at home to Woking and while Spireites players like James Kellerman had their chances to win the game, the single point was enough to see them through to the playoffs.
The other game in the play-offs will feature fifth-placed Notts County and sixth-placed Grimsby Town on 23 May. Notts County needed just one point away to Maidenhead United to guarantee that they play the game at home and Callum Roberts’ single goal did the job. Grimsby were involved in what was arguably the game of the day when they drew 4-4 away at Eastleigh.
Elsewhere Aldershot lost 3-1 at home to Wealdstone, Yeovil beat Altrincham 1-0 away, Bromley beat Barnet 4-2 away, Southend drew 1-1 at home to Torquay, and Dover failed to pick up their second point of the season when they lost 1-2 at home to Weymouth.
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