Stockport County are still in the automatic promotion conversation, but only if they stop playing like a side waiting for something to click.
Right now, the gap is not impossible; the margin for error is.
Automatic promotion is not gone, it is just expensive now
Stockport sit fourth with 53 points from 31 games, 12 points behind second-placed Lincoln City (65 from 32) and 16 behind leaders Cardiff City (69 from 32). That is a clear picture, the chase is real, but it is now on Stockport to make it real every Saturday and Tuesday.
This is the bit supporters can feel in their bones: the difference between “still in it” and “talking about it” is basically a run. Not a romantic run, not a “we will be fine once X is back” run, but the kind where you win when you are not playing well, where you get the first goal, and where the anxiety in the ground disappears because everyone knows what the team is trying to do.
And that is where the frustration comes from. The squad has had money spent on it, expectations have been nudged upwards, and yet there are games where the plan feels split between two identities. One version wants to control the ball and manage risk, the other wants the old intensity and directness that made Stockport so awkward to play against. When you try to be both at once, you can end up being neither.
The system issues are making good players look ordinary
Take the recurring theme in midfield. When Oliver Norwood and Lewis Bate share the pitch, it can look tidy, but it can also look like two players occupying similar zones, collecting the same passes, and leaving a hole elsewhere. That is not a criticism of either player’s quality, it is the shape around them. If the midfield line is too deep, and the ball is going long anyway, then you are effectively emptying the very area where you should be winning second balls and starting attacks.
That is why the contrast is so sharp when a more progressive, risk-friendly option comes on and starts demanding the ball under pressure. It changes the temperature. It asks the team to play through thirds rather than around them. It also exposes a key truth: Stockport’s attacking problems are not just about the forwards, they are about how quickly and cleanly the ball arrives into the spaces those forwards can actually hurt teams from.
Wingback availability has mattered too. When you have natural width and dynamism, your midfielders do not need to drift, your centre-backs do not need to force it, and your attacks do not collapse into hopeful crosses. Without that, you can end up relying on wide delivery while also lacking the bodies to attack the second phase. It is a horrible combo.
So what has to happen for the top two?
First, Stockport need clarity. Pick the midfield balance that gives you legs, progression, and recovery runs, then stick with it long enough for relationships to form. Second, stop making games “perfect” before you try to win them. The top two is not about aesthetics, it is about points. Third, accept that the run has to start now, because six points can become nine very quickly, and once it does, the conversation changes from “autos” to “protect the play-offs”.
The opportunity is still there because Stockport have played fewer games than Bolton and have the kind of squad that can string wins together when confidence returns. But automatic promotion will not be handed over by Lincoln or Cardiff out of kindness. It will need to be taken, with a ruthless few weeks where Stockport turn control into chances, and chances into goals.
While the autos are still possible, it is only if Stockport stop treating selection and shape as a weekly debate and start treating it as a statement. Pick the identity, commit to it, and attack the run-in like a side that genuinely expects to catch second place, because anything less is just hoping with extra steps.
Of course, they need the relentless Lincoln City to drop the ball, but with a visit to Sincil Bank still on the cards, Stockport can have a little hope, even if belief is draining fast.