Pocket Preview 14: Stockport County v Doncaster Rovers
Part one of the Hatters double-header completed in cool fashion, we're back on Saturday to hopefully do it all again.
Louie Barry was unfortunately unable to maintain his scoring streak in our Tuesday night clash with Forest Green Rovers, but that was about the only thing unfortunate about the tie.
Much was made of the Green Devils’ signing of Troy Deeney at the start of this season, but the former Premier League man was totally anonymous at Edgeley Park, a fact backed up by his failure to register any notable statistics.
Another win, and a clean sheet, makes it five in five now for the Hatters, form that will surely worry our visitors, 20th placed Doncaster Rovers.
Six points will have been expected before heading into this week, but expected wins can often trip us up and our current impeccable run is no excuse for complacency.
Team News
After a whirlwind opening of the season, with a squad that had looked oversubscribed to begin with whittled down to the bare bones through injury, the squad looks to have settled into a rhythm, despite many players still yet to return.
In terms of those returnees shaking up the status quo of the last few weeks, many look set for a return over the next fortnight but this weekend may come just too early for the likes of Kyle Wootton and Myles Hippolyte.
As mentioned by the manager last week, Ibou Touray has been away for scans this week so, barring a miracle, it looks like young defender Ethan Pye may be given the left-back role once again.
Despite this being outside of his more comfortable centre-back position, he has adjusted extremely well and produced a top-level performance against Forest Green in the week.
As feared, it looks as though we are going to need to get used to Nick Powell being in and out of the team with minor injuries. Though not ideal, it has given Odin Bailey a decent run of games to put his stamp on this team and he has certainly managed that.
With the run County are currently on, the boss can manage the minutes of returning players with a calmness that may not have been present a few weeks ago.
As my predicted XI suggests, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
Opposition Watch
Doncaster had a tough start to this season, a large contributing factor in their current 20th place in table, but similarly to County they have seen somewhat of a revival in recent weeks.
Though not quite the Hatters impeccable last five record, Doncaster have picked up three wins in their last five, including a win earlier this week and one against Tuesday’s opposition Forest Green Rovers.
On Tuesday they managed to put Crawley Town to the sword in a two-nil home victory, some coup as their opponents currently sit just one place behind us in 5th.
It suggests that we might find a team in slightly more buoyant form than our last visitors, who offered very little in goal.
County will need to keep their eye on striker Joe Ironside, the club’s current top scorer by only a small margin but who has picked up two goals in his last two outings, both home and away, so clearly arrives in the mood to find the net.
There’s little improvement that can be made on a five-game winning streak, the only criticism potentially coming in the fact that we’ve only managed to keep two clean sheets on that run. Stopping Ironside will be key to improving this side of our game.
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 on Saturday afternoon will be Adam Herczeg. He’s spent most of this season officiating across League One and League Two, having last took charge of a County game for our one-all draw against Salford City, where he produced two yellow cards.
The referee hasn’t produced a red card in a game since August last year, which suggests only the most serious of offences will see a player dismissed on the day.
Herczeg will be assisted on the day by linesmen Jacob Lehane and Graeme Fyvie, and fourth official Daniel Middleton.
Thanks for taking the time to read today’s Pocket Preview. The next instalment ahead of Harrogate Town (A) will land on Fri, Oct 13.
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