Stockport County on verge of promotion as fans get ready to party

Stockport County fans are preparing for a party with their club on the brink of promotion. The Hatters need just a point from Saturday's match against Morecambe at Edgeley Park to secure their place in League 1 next season.

They could still go up if they were to lose and MK Dons dropped points at home to third-place Mansfield. They could also secure the title if they win and both second-placed Wrexham and Mansfield lose.

Their second promotion in three seasons would see County back in England's third tier for the first time in 14 years. And it would cap a remarkable few years for the club, who were playing regional football in National League North, the sixth tier, as recently as 2018.

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The Hatters, whose upturn in fortunes has coincided with their takeover by local businessman Mark Stott in 2020, returned to the Football League in 2022. And they narrowly missed out on back-to-back promotions going down on penalties to Carlisle United after a 1-1 draw at Wembley last May.

Following Tuesday's 2-1 win at Colchester, boss Dave Challinor said: “I’m still going to be the boring fellow who’ll say ‘you’ve worked so hard to get to this situation’ and when we do get promoted, we want to go up as champions. That’s still an objective and we need two wins to be able to do that.

“So if we are going to enjoy it, let’s make sure we enjoy it properly and put everything we can into the next 10 days or however long it may be and have a proper celebration."

The promotion of 2022, and last season's play-off semi-final win, saw huge parties both inside the ground and in the streets of Edgeley afterwards.

The Edgeley Community Association (ECA), comprising