County travel to Prenton Park for the second round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tonight to face of against Les Parry’s Tranmere Rovers.
Despite the competition being the subject of much fun-poking and malign, competition rules state that at least 6 ‘first-team players’ must start in the line-ups, giving County boss Paul Simpson a few selection headaches such as to whether to rest star players Matty Glennon, Robbie Williams and George Donnelly – and whether to give starting berths to impressive youngsters Jordan Rose and Cameron Darkwah.
We understand that stopper Owain fon Williams is in line to start tonight for The Hatters.
Vital Quotes:
Paul Simpson: “We might give opportunities to the likes of Cameron, Danny (Rowe) and Danny (Pilkington.) It’s a difficult one, our season is so finely balanced at the minute that I’m not exactly sure what to do.”
“I think it’s a good competition to be involved in. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been to a few finals at Wembley and The Millenium Stadium in this competition in the past, and we ended up making a lot of money from the day and the fans having a top day out.”
“So this is a competition that we can make a lot of money from, and at the end of the day as a lower league club you don’t get many chances to go to Wembley, so if we can make a real fist of it, I see no reason why we shouldn’t.”
Tranmere Team News:
Tranmere hope to have striker Enoch Showunmi and defender Aaron Creswell available after they suffered knocks against Walsall on Saturday.
Boss Les Parry has vowed to field the strongest starting line-up possible for the game.
Player to watch: Enoch Showumni
The former Leeds United man has plenty of pedigree and will prove a massive, strong test for Jordan Rose at the back.
But the confident youngster will relish the battle with the big Nigerian striker.
County Team News:
Skipper Danny Swailes will receive the results of the leg scan he had last weekend after he was stretchered off against Lincoln on Saturday.
Young Jordan Rose took his place in defence on the day, and the ex-Nike Academy man looks set to continue.
Owain fon Williams may get a chance to shake some of the cobwebs off after sitting on the bench for the past few months.
Player to watch: …
Absolutely no idea how Paul Simpson’s going to manage this one tonight, so I’d say the one to watch would be the gaffer, let’s see what kind of side he puts out!
Match Facts & Stats
Tranmere – 4/6
Draw – 5/2
County – 16/5
Match Prediction:
1-2 Tranmere. A weakened County side goes down to two second-half goals…
Next Fixtures:
COUNTY vs Hereford
Edgeley Park
Saturday 30th October
3pm
npower League One
