The FA Cup returns tomorrow, with Stockport County hoping to be one of the non league names going into the hat for the First Round draw on Sunday afternoon.
Part of the magic of the FA Cup is the lower league sides getting in to the further rounds, and Stockport County will be hoping to be one of those clubs this season as Jim Gannon builds a new and young dynamic team.
Vital Quotes:
Jim Gannon, speaking to the fa.com, said ‘Unfortunately for them, they’ve lost a lot of players from last year including Connor Jennings, Phil Marsh, Craig Hobson to us, both centre-halves and Stephen Brogan.
‘They’ve lost seven or eight really influential players – almost the whole spine of the team – so that’s left Jim Harvey having to rebuild.
‘That said, they’ve acquitted themselves really well in what will be a more competitive division this season.
‘They might not be as formidable a team as last year but we still know we’re in for a tough game.
‘They’ll have done their homework on us and they’ll come with a gameplan – the onus is on us to break them down.’
Stockport County Team News:
Stockport County don’t have any new injury worries ahead of tomorrow’s game. Danny O’Donnell attempted a comeback on Wednesday night but left the field injured, he probably won’t feature. Joe Connor continued his recovery with a further 60 minutes on Wednesday night and he could feature in midfield. Jim may use the game to blood some of the younger players.
Player to watch: Craig Hobson
Last year Hobson was causing County problems in the FA Trophy but Craig is starting to look really dangerous as he finds his feet at Edgeley Park. 4 goals over two games in the last month and he is starting to look sharper. Depending on the system Jim plays will decide how much influence Craig has, although he has been versatile.
Hobson will be looking to prove to his ex employers he is good enough to make the step up and dump them out of the FA Cup.
Stalybridge Celtic Team News:
Stalybridge have no new injury worries and are likely to field a similar team to the one they played last week at Worcester City.
Player to watch: Greg Wilkinson
Jim Gannon is a big fan of Wilkinson, who plays in central midfield. He will be looking to impress as Gannon may still chase him in the future.
Match Facts & Stats
Stalybridge Celtic beat Stockport County last year in the FA Trophy.
After Celtic got a draw at Edgeley Park they took County back to Vegas and turned the game on its head, trailing 1-0 two late goals gave Staly the win.
County won last weekend against Kidderminster Harriers 1-0, whilst Stalybridge won 2-1 at Worcester.
Stalybridge are not as strong as they were last season, and Stockport County go in as 4/7 favourites, whilst Stalybridge can be backed at 4/1 for the win.
Match Prediction:
3-0 to County. Stalybridge may put up a fight for half an hour but County should be too strong this season and once County get the first goal it should be relatively comfortable from there on in.
Next Fixtures:
Stockport Countys next game is at Lincoln next Saturday (27th).
Good article Jack. 5-3 was a good result, unfortunately Pure weren’t or didn’t cover the game, shame as this is the only medium where us ex pats get to hear the games. I’m presuming that others have the broadcasting rights. Any thoughts?. Sounds like we missed a cracker.
Vicman – Pure FM certainly did cover the game!! I listened to it down in Northwich Cheshire athough the reception this far south is not brlliant.
rylester, We have to rely on County Player to get the link to Pure. As you say Pure did cover the game but for some reason it wasn’t linked to Player and unfortunately living in the frozen north of Scotland we cannot pick up the local radio transmission from Stockport, but thanks for letting me know.