Manager Dave Challinor has challenged Stockport to take their impressive form into the play-offs after missing out on an automatic promotion spot with a 1-1 draw against Hartlepool.
County needed to win and hope Northampton didn’t if they were to overtake them but they will now have to face Salford in the post-season.
Callum Cooke’s second-half strike cancelled out Callum Camps’ penalty to give relegated Hartlepool a point, with the latter also having a stoppage-time spot-kick saved by Ben Killip.
Challinor, whose side are unbeaten since February, said: “In terms of the amount of chances we created and the amount of shots we had on goal, that’s probably the most we’ve had all season, which is really positive.
“We’ve not played that well but still created plenty of chances and that will be important going into the play-offs where those moments are few and far between.
“What I can’t complain about is how much we’ve hit the target, their keeper has made some brilliant saves and got them a point.
“We’re on a brilliant run, we have to make sure that continues into the play-offs. If we do we’ll have a really good chance of progressing.
“But the four teams are really well matched, four really good teams who are there on merit – it’s the toss of a coin how it will turn out.
“The play-offs are certainly the best way to go up but they’re also the worst way for your season to end. The jeopardy throughout a league season is always there, in the play-offs it’s enhanced tenfold.
“I’m looking forward to it because they’re moments you want to be involved in, we have to embrace it.
“We’ve got to win three football matches to get out of this division and if we’d been offered that at the start we’d have taken it.”
Hartlepool’s relegation had already been sealed but, thanks to Killip in his first game since January, they at least finished with a draw.
Killip couldn’t save Camps’ first-half penalty but his string of fine saves was completed by a stop from the midfielder’s second spot-kick of the afternoon deep into stoppage time.
Manager John Askey’s thought are already on rebuilding the Pools squad for a tilt at the National League title he won as Macclesfield boss in 2018.
He said: “As daft as it sounds because we’ve gone down, I’m pleased we’ve come here and got a point.
“Coming here we knew the situation and I was hoping the players would put on a performance for the supporters – and they did that. I couldn’t ask any more of them in a difficult situation to be in.
“It wasn’t easy for Ben to come in and play like that but you couldn’t ask any more from a goalkeeper, he made some tremendous saves, he’s shown what a good goalkeeper he is.
“Obviously it was still a little bit flat but we’ve got to forget this season and move on to the next one.
“It’s an important time for us now, we need to recruit well and get players in that will suit the way we want to play. There are one or two going, one or two who we’ll try to move on as well.
“We need more athleticism in the team, we need more pace and it’s up to us to try to get those players.
“We can’t have a massive overhaul but where we can we’ll try to bring in better players and I’ll be doing my best to try to get a winning team together.”
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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