Manager Dave Challinor says the depth of Stockport’s squad will help them maintain their promotion bid after Kyle Wootton came off the bench to make a decisive impact in a 2-0 win at Crewe.
The leaders struggled to break down their local rivals in a first half lacking in quality in front of goal.
But Wootton, who has been confined to a substitute role this season, was thrown on by the County boss after a first-half injury to Louie Barry.
And the striker’s far-post header from a short corner engineered by Antoni Sarcevic and Odin Bailey edged the visitors ahead in front of 2,141 of their own fans at Gresty Road.
Isaac Olaofe sealed Stockport’s ninth consecutive league win and a club record 10th in all competitions with a second.
Challinor said: “I think the depth of our squad will be a really important factor and Kyle has come on and made a difference. We work hard on our set-pieces in terms of what teams do and we try to be inventive around what we do.
“We worked a short corner really well and it was bread and butter for Wootts to get on the end of that. It’s great to have him back and the timing worked really well with Barry having to go off.
“It’s an amazing achievement to win 10 games in a row (nine league and one EFL Trophy win). It is tough at any level in winning games of football and to do it in this division with the same group of players is a great effort, particularly coming here and winning when it’s a first-versus-third game.
“Crewe changed their shape and we had a game plan. Technically we were terrible in the first half and we didn’t make the most of situations. But we dug in and we were better in the second half and it was pleasing how we managed the game after the second.”
Olaofe was thwarted by Harvey Davies soon after the restart. But the Crewe keeper was beaten when County worked a short corner routine (66) with Bailey flighting the ball across for Wootton to direct a header into the bottom corner.
Olaofe should have made the game safe, but lifted over in front of goal before he took Wootton’s pass and found the bottom corner (89) to seal victory.
For Crewe defeat meant an end to a 14-game unbeaten home run stretching back to February and boss Lee Bell said: “We are disappointed to lose in that manner. I didn’t think it was a very good game in the first half and we played into Stockport’s hands. We tried playing them at their own game and we weren’t good enough with our football.
“Stockport have a group of players who have got a bit of knowhow for these games. It is the first time as a group we’ve been in that situation. What we’ve got to do is draw on it and learn quickly from it. We’ve got to play how we want to play.
“We did a little bit when we threw on extra players at the top to go around them, so we’ve got to learn from this and do what we think we’re good at which has got us into the position we are in the league.
“For the first goal we switched off from the corner and Wootton is a real danger in the box. It could have been a 0-0 game and later Mickey Demetriou took a risk at the back. But I’m more disappointed with how we weren’t able to do what we’ve been doing this season.”
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