Pocket Preview 13: Stockport County v Forest Green Rovers
With a front two on fire, County look like the team to fear in League Two. An Edgeley Park double-header up next could send us flying further up the league.
Four wins in the last five puts County top of the recent form table in League Two, joint only with Crawley Town.
We’re also finding great success on the road at the moment, with three of those four wins coming away from home, leaving us second in the table on away form.
That’s in stark contrast with our home form at the start of this season. Aside from the five-nil dismantling of Wrexham, we’ve struggled at times to make an impact at Edgeley Park.
Entering a week where we play two games at home, in a run of good form against two struggling sides in Forest Green Rovers and Doncaster Rovers, it looks finely poised to set us up for an improvement on that home form, for which we currently sit tenth in the table.
Team News
Just as the team looked to be returning to full fitness, the injury to Touray has once again unsettled Challinor’s side. In his post-match interview after the Accrington result he said that the left-sided defender is off for scans which should produce results by the middle of this week and he’s hoping that it will be measured in weeks out rather than months.
That means, with Ryan Rydel out for the season and Myles Hippolyte still working towards full fitness, the role is likely to go back to Ethan Pye, as it did at weekend.
Filling in for Pye in the centre-back position at weekend was Akil Wright, so it remains to be seen whether Wright gets the nod again or the manager feels it’s time to give loanee Alfie Pond a run in the side.
Challinor called the middle of October ‘like a new transfer window’ due to the players that are expected back over this period, with Hippolyte, Kyle Wootton, Nick Powell and Kyle Knoyle all likely to be available for selection.
That slight delay on Wootton’s return has given Challinor one less decision in the forward line, as both Louie Barry, now on Stockport County record-breaking seven goals in seven games, and Tanto Oloafe seemingly unable to stop scoring.
They both netted again at weekend against Accrington and have cemented themselves starting spots with their recent performances. They both now sit inside the top ten goalscorers in League Two this season, a stat we didn’t look like troubling just a few weeks ago.
Opposition Watch
Forest Green Rovers arrive at Edgeley Park following a tough spell of games, four losses in their last four games, including one against fellow strugglers Doncaster.
Manager David Horseman put in a word with a contact he has at Manchester United, so his side have been training just moments away from the Stockport County team at Carrington. Let’s hope we’re not heading towards the next instalment of Spygate.
Quite unpredictably, Rovers joined ourselves and Wrexham in making some of the most high-profile signings of the summer, perhaps the highest of the lot, when they brought former Premier League star Troy Deeney into their ranks.
The striker has made more headlines for his outlandish claims on podcasts than for anything he has done on the pitch so far for the Green Devils, aside from a hat-trick against Notts County in a game that Rovers still went on to lose.
Deeney’s most recent claim is that there’s a multitude of attributes he possesses that Bundesliga’s second top goalscorer Harry Kane could only dream of achieving. Quite the misfortune then that one has landed at Bayern Munich and the other at Forest Green Rovers.
If Deeney brings his Ballon d’Or challenging boots to Stockport on Tuesday, we could be in for a long night.
All jokes aside, County cannot be lulled into a false sense of security by Forest Green’s recent results. They have struggled defensively but when you put someone with Deeney’s experience and quality against a constantly evolving backline like County’s with the injuries we’ve sustained, guards must be up.
Predicted XI
For the FanHub lovers amongst us:
What do you think? Have your say in the comments below or via Twitter.
Who’s The Ref?
Taking charge this Tuesday night is referee Ross Joyce. He’s spent this season refereeing across League One and League Two and has already dished out two red cards in seven games. He last officiated a County game last September, at home to Harrogate, a nil-nil draw with four yellow cards.
Joyce will be assisted on the day by linesmen Matthew Sowerby and Karl Buckley and fourth official Richard Wigglesworth.
Thanks for taking the time to read today’s Pocket Preview. The next instalment ahead of Doncaster Rovers (H) will land on Fri, Oct 6.
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