Stockport County at Wembley again…but it was not to be. Again.

Before this season, Stockport County had played at the famous Wembley Stadium 6 times in their history, winning once. Now, as we finish the 2025/26 season, the total remarkably stands at 8 visits to Wembley. Sadly, the victories remain at just the once!

In April around 12,000 County fans made the trip down south to the national stadium for the final of the Vertu Trophy against locals Luton Town. It wasn’t to be on the day, outplayed and outgunned 3-1. It was a cracking day out though and, luckily, no one is too bothered about the Vertu (unless you win!) so spirits weren’t too low.

After a flawless playoff-semi final tie against Stevenage, County were on their way to Wembley again. Surely it would be different this time, right?

With over 14,000 tickets sold this time, and most people driving down the M1 (mainly due to the trains being even more unreliable than usual), it was inevitable we’d bump into County fans at the Watford Gap services. The confidence amongst most was, unusually, as high as the sunny temperatures. We even bumped into County players Tyler Onyango and Owen Moxon, injured/ineligible for the final but driving down to support the boys.

It was amazing to see Wembley Way full of County shirts again. The good weather meant everyone was in good spirits, and in County colours from decades past too. Would the mood stay as positive once the match kicked off…?

Nope. Conceding within 3 minutes will do that to you. Combined with VAR chalking-off an equaliser 11 minutes later and it felt like it was not going to be our day…and that feeling never really went away.

But still – while depressing as it was as a County fan, as a photographer we at least scored a goal. And there’s absolutely no better moments to capture:

Maybe next time we’ll score a few. We’ll see. Up The Hatters.