Stockport County have a difference-maker in title race with Wrexham and Mansfield: View | OneFootball

Barring MK Dons somehow closing a 26-goal gap in just three games, Stockport County have secured their place in League One next season, and one man has been at the forefront of the final charge.

Hatters captain Paddy Madden has shown both leadership and experience in County's last two games to become a pivotal figure in picking up the six points that saw the club all but cross the finishing line on Tuesday night.

However, after the game, manager Dave Challinor confirmed that his side are not content with just sealing promotion and that the true aim is to lift the League Two title.

With only Wrexham and Mansfield truly left in that battle, the not-so-secret weapon Madden could prove decisive once more to achieve that aim.

County have faced all three teams at the bottom of League Two, all away from home, two of which came consecutively in the Hatters' past couple of outings.

At any other point in the season, that probably looks like a comfortable run, but at the business end, the teams staring down the barrel of non-league football were scrapping for their lives, and the games threatened to turn into nervy and frustrating affairs.

That was especially true with Colchester, who dominated significant periods of the game and put County under substantial pressure at times.

But, as he so often does, Madden ensured that his side left both Sutton United and Colchester United with nothing other than three points.

First was a hat-trick in Saturday's game against Sutton, where his three goals decided the 3-1 victory at Gander Green Lane, before just days later he popped up at the back post against Colchester to notch the winner, in what proved to be a relatively even game against a well-drilled Danny Cowley side.

Without his goals in those games, it would have been one point from two, and County would be entering Saturday's clash against Morecambe at Edgeley Park with more than a few nerves.

Madden adds that special ingredient

This weekend. Against Newport County earlier in this season. Even back to the crunch National League fixture against Halifax Town to send the Hatters back to the Football League. Paddy Madden has a knack for turning up in big games.

He hasn't always been a regular starter in this campaign, due in large part to the likes of Louie Barry and Tanto Olaofe in the first half of the season keeping him out of the team.

But, when called upon for an important game, he can, and usually does, score important goals.

It's a quality that you can't really put a number on, but you can sense it inside a stadium; when tensions are high and a goal is needed to break the deadlock and take a footing in the game, Madden is the man.

An instinctive finisher, with expert positioning and seemingly boundless fitness, the Irishman's best qualities are standing the test of time, and despite not being the first name on the team sheet for much of this season, he has more than put his stamp on another successful Hatters campaign.

Stockport County should consider a contract extension

When joining the club in March 2021, Madden signed a three-and-a-half-year deal that is due to expire this summer.

Now aged 34, there were rumblings among fans at the beginning of this season that this year could be his Edgeley Park farewell tour, with the veteran striker struggling for starts from the outset.

However, the latter half of this term has shown exactly what he still has to give, and that age is having little impact on the parts of his game that make him a top forward. Not to mention the fact he is almost always available for selection, rarely picking up an injury, something that has been of great value to County in a chaotic season in the treatment room.

League One will be a big jump up in terms of quality, facing some football heavyweights that will undoubtedly bring some of the toughest technical challenges the club has faced in its recent history.

There will be areas to strengthen, but the core of a team and those who lead it are important, and nobody has shown that better than Madden in recent weeks.

He has shown how valuable an asset he is on the pitch. His qualities off the pitch could be even more crucial for the upcoming transition.

Sentimentally, County fans will want to extend Madden's time at Edgeley Park. They're in luck because, practically, it makes sense too.

That's all to come, though, and first Madden has promotion and the League Two title to secure. All signs suggest he will be the man to deliver it for Stockport.