It’s here again…

The new season returns with a bang as new boys Dagenham & Redbridge visit Edgeley Park tomorrow and I, for one, can’t wait.

It’s been a long pre-season, and an emotional one at that. After nearly three months out, its back.

It will be the first meeting between Stockport County and Dagenham, and it is sure to be interesting.

Dagenham will have a loud following, similar to Hereford last season. Following easy promotion last year from the Conference it will be interesting to see how they cope with League Two football this season.

Gannon’s Quotes

Jim Gannon: ‘We were slow off the mark last season and we want to make sure we are not playing catch-up again.’

‘We’ve had them watched four or five times,’

‘And while it’s always difficult to judge, we think we know their strengths and weaknesses.

‘But they have got to be a good side to win the Conference like they did last season.’

Stockport County Team News:

Jim Gannon has got an almost full strength squad to choose from tomorrow.

It is unclear as to whether any of the three new boys signed yesterday will feature in the team, though it is certain that new signings Chris Adamson, Matty McNeil, Gary Dicker, Paul Tierney and Adam Legzdins are all available to play.

Gareth Owen has recovered from an injury that ruled him out last week and is set to play in defence with Ashley Williams.

Keith Briggs, Michael Bowler, Tony Dinning, James Tunnicliffe, Rob Clare, Michael Raynes and Michael Rose will all miss out through injury.

However Liam Dickinson, Adam Proudlock, Anthony Elding and Matty McNeil are all fit and it will be interesting to see what strikers Jimbo goes with.

Player to watch: Anthony Elding

Can he re-find his goalscoring form of last season and continue to be the fans favourite, can he fire County to promotion this season?

Dagenham & Redbridge Team News:

Paul Benson is likely to start for Dagenham despite missing much of the pre-season campaign with a knee injury.

No information is available on Michael Malcolm, though he has featured in a few of Dagenham’s games and he may play for Dagenham tomorrow at his old club.

Player to watch: Unknown

Even after talking to many Dagenham fans, a lot of those refuse to state a star player. They work well as a team and battle hard, Dagenham come into the division as newboys and its hard to know what to expect at first.

Match Odds

Stockport County – 4/5
Draw – 23/10
Dagenham & Redbridge – 11/4

Ref Watch:

Mr Salisbury is Saturday’s referee. Last time he refereed County we beat Darlington 5-0 on the last day of the season last year, he also refereed the 1-0 JPT win over Macclesfield. Last season he gave out 78 yellow cards and 7 red cards in 33 games.

Next Fixtures:

STOCKPORT COUNTY V Tranmere Rovers – Carling Cup – Tuesday Night
Chesterfield V STOCKPORT COUNTY – Saturday