Stockport County have to overcome worrying Leyton Orient threat to tee up Wembley date | OneFootball

The Hatters will have their eye on one source of danger in the crunch play-off semi-final

Stockport County are set to face Leyton Orient in the League One play-off semi-final.

The two-legged affair will kick off first at Orient’s Brisbane Road, before finishing off at Stockport’s Edgeley Park.

The Hatters earned this opponent by way of finishing in the top play-off spot, and the O’s finishing sixth.

But for a couple of key reasons, that may not feel like the perk it’s supposed to be.

The Hatters will need to find a way to keep Charlie Kelman quiet

Much of County’s pre-match work will focus on quelling the threat posed by Orient striker Charlie Kelman, on loan from Queens Park Rangers.

The 23-year-old finished the regular League One season as the division’s top scorer with 21 goals, almost three times that of Orient’s second-best goalscorer Jamie Donley, on eight.

The likes of Ethan Pye, Fraser Horsfall and Brad Hills from Stockport’s defensive unit will have their attentions firmly trained on stopping the threat of Kelman.

But with the best defensive record of anyone in the play-offs, having conceded just 42 goals, Kelman will also recognise he’s got his work cut out too.

Moreover, the fact that Orient have been so heavily reliant on one player may make it easier for Hatters boss Dave Challinor to focus on stopping this route to goal, whereas County’s goal threats have been much more spread out throughout the squad.

Stockport and Orient are the two form teams in the play-offs

The other reason County may be slightly unhappy with their semi-final opponent is that they are in just as good form as the Hatters.

Based on form alone, the two sides are the strongest duo left in the running, and whichever misses out will feel incredibly unlucky.

Over the last 10 games of the season, only Birmingham City accrued more points than the Hatters and the O’s.

It is often said the team in the strongest form is usually the one to succeed in the play-offs and, if true, that makes this tie almost impossible to predict.

County have the tools to go all the way

Find a way past the form of Orient and the goalscoring instincts of Kelman, and County have a great shot at winning the play-offs.

Having established Stockport and the O’s are the two in-form sides, Wycombe Wanderers and Charlton Athletic on the other side of the draw may offer an ever-so-slightly easier challenge.

But not only that, the Hatters have crucial recent experience to draw upon.

It was only two years ago, at the end of the 2022/23 season, that County, under Dave Challinor, which many of the same players in the squad, last turned out at Wembley for a showpiece final.

That was in the League Two play-offs, which they lost against Carlisle United, but given it’s not an experience many players get to have, the fact a good chunk of the squad have already been through it will surely be a boost, and maybe provide an example of how to do things differently next time around.

But nobody at Edgeley Park will be thinking about that just yet.