The Hatters’ Football League Cup adventure for the new campaign ended emphatically at the first hurdle with a heavy defeat on a rainy night at Edgeley Park against Blackburn Rovers.
Four first-half goals for the Championship visitors effectively settled the contest against a much-changed, and predominantly very youthful, County side. And although the Hatters did themselves trouble the scorers, through 16-year-old Nathan Mapengu midway through the second half, Blackburn – in each case, thanks to a substitute – subsequently scored twice more to leave County hit for six and eliminated from the competition.
County took to the field in SK3 for the second time in just over three days, featuring 10 different starters – with only Ibby Touray surviving – from those selected for the preceding Saturday’s League One starting line-up against Cambridge. A quartet of teenage players – namely, Mapengu, Jid Okeke, Freddie Redshaw and Lee Williams – made competitive debuts, while the Hatters’ bench comprised a mix of several more youngsters, together with three senior players – in Louie Barry, Callum Camps and Jack Diamond – who had started three days previously.
Rovers, making their second evening visit to EP of the month, put out a side that showed half a dozen changes from their starting line-up for the pre-season friendly 11 days earlier, and also six from that which had more recently kicked off against Derby in the Championship at the weekend.
With just under three minutes on the clock, the visitors created the first chance of the night when Yuki Ohashi was played through on goal – but Ben Hinchliffe stood tall to block the Japanese striker’s angled shot. And moments later, Andreas Weimann headed over after connecting with Harry Pickering’s cross from the left.
The next attempt of note, after seven minutes, saw Blackburn take an early lead, as Sammie Szmodics curled a shot home from the edge of the box to register his second goal of the season.
The visitors’ advantage was doubled just ahead of the first half’s mid-point, after Tyler Onyango had blocked Hayden Carter’s initial through-ball – only for the ball to fall for Austrian international Weimann, who slotted past Hinchliffe from the right.
Three minutes later, Blackburn had a third, and Szmodics a second, of the night, as the Championship’s top scorer of the previous season picked up another Pickering delivery from the left, before firing a low shot in at the near post.
Shortly after the half-hour, Ohashi made it four – courtesy of a glancing header, following a short-corner routine that had culminated in skipper John Buckley’s cross from the left. And fortunes did not improve for the Hatters seven minutes prior to the break, when a knock for Sam Hughes deprived them of the services of their captain on the night for the remainder of proceedings.
County did earn a corner before the half came to an end – but Rovers continued to dominate, and, in added time, Hinchliffe did well to parry Arnór Sigurðsson’s well-struck low drive around the left post.
HALF-TIME: County 0, Blackburn 4 (Szmodics, 7 and 25; Weimann, 22; Ohashi, 31).
The Hatters, upon the resumption, introduced a couple of their young substitutes – one of whom, Bruno Cina, found his name in Referee Joyce’s notebook after a couple of minutes. But County otherwise escaped forms of further punishment in the early stages of the new half, as Szmodics fired wide of the right post from close range when on a hat-trick, and Hinchliffe dived to smother another effort from Sigurðsson.
After the hour, Camps, who had replaced the injured Hughes, blazed over from distance. And half a dozen minutes later, following a bright spell, County reduced the arrears, courtesy of Mapengu, who, to Cheadle End acclaim, fired home following a corner from the left by Jayden Fevrier.
What would have been a moment of joy for the teenage debutant to remember forever was not, alas, one which the Hatters collectively could savour for long, as, four minutes later, substitute Makhtar Gueye headed in Buckley’s corner from the left for a fifth Blackburn goal.
Ohashi rattled the County woodwork with a well-struck volley, before turning provider three minutes from time with a low, drilled delivery from the left that another substitute, Jack Vale, fired home from a tight angle beyond the far upright to complete the scoring.
FULL-TIME: County 1 (Mapengu, 67), Blackburn 6 (Szmodics, 7 and 25; Weimann, 22; Ohashi, 31, Gueye, 71; Vale, 87).
Team (3-4-3): Hinchliffe; Mapengu (Lawless-Williams, 82), Hughes (Capt.) (Camps, 38), Touray; Okeke, Onyango, Bailey, Redshaw (Cina, 46); C. Gardner, Williams (Watson, 46), Fevrier (Lewis, 82).
[Debuts for the following players, each with a unique SCAN [Stockport County Appearance Number]: Nathan Mapengu (1478); Jid Okeke (1479); Freddie Redshaw (1480); Lee Williams (1481); Bruno Cina (1482); Rhys Watson (1483); John Lawless-Williams (1484); and Jake Lewis (1485).]
Unused Subs: Metcalfe, Diamond, Barry, S. Gardner.
Booked: Cina.
Man of the Match: Hinchliffe.
Attendance: 5,790 (1,279 away).
Reporter: Gareth Evans.
Photographer: Mike Petch.
