TAMESIDE’S footballers can wear smiles on their faces after three helped Stockport County to promotion.
Antoni Sarcevic, Callum Camps and Rhys Bennett are all part of the squad that has helped the club just down the road go up from League Two.
And one car will be a delight to travel in as Gee Cross-based Sarcevic and Stalybridge’s Camps travel to training together.
A 2-0 win over Morecambe on Saturday, April 13 made sure of the Hatters’ elevation as they go for the League Two title, which they can secure with a win at Notts County on Tuesday, April 16.
Achieve that, and there may be a party or two in the area.
“Callum and I head to training together,” said Sarcevic, who insisted he is the better driver. “We have done for the last two years.
“We were gutted last year, now we’re buzzing that we can celebrate.
“I don’t think our manager, Dave Challinor, will let us enjoy it too much, though, as we’ve got a job to do on the Tuesday night. Do that, then we can celebrate.
“Then Gee Cross can party.”
Sarcevic and Stockport being ‘gutted’ last year refers to their defeat to Carlisle in last season’s League Two Play-Off Final.
And a photo of the dressing room after that loss on penalties has provided added motivation to go straight up this time around.
Now it has been achieved, and the midfielder’s seventh promotion of his career secured, it can be looked at with a sense of ‘job done.’
The 32-year-old, who also has Denton’s Bennett in the squad as he is on loan from Manchester United, added: “We have a picture of that dressing room at our training ground and we didn’t want to put ourselves back there, we want to get the job done.
“That’s something we’ve always looked at to make sure we don’t go back there. We wanted to get it done, we’ve done that, now to do one more.
“And County is a League One club, that’s credit to everyone – the chairman for backing us, the management, the staff and the fans.
“This club deserves to be in League One and we’re excited by it. We’ve one more game to win now and we can go in as champions.
“It was important to get the win over Morecambe to secure promotion but there’s another thing to do now – get that trophy.”