Pocket Preview 8: Stockport County v Crawley Town
League revival falters, Challinor linked with a move away and two new loanees arrive at the club. It's been a hectic week as the Hatters prepare to face Crawley Town.
Following a gut-wrenching comeback from Mansfield Town last weekend, things nearly went from bad to worse in the minds of most fans as County reporter Sam Byrne reported that manager Dave Challinor was interviewing for the Charlton Athletic job.
Later that same day, Sam reported that despite listening to what Charlton Athletic had say, Challinor decided he wasn’t moving anywhere.
Despite not making the best start this season, it’s important to remember what we have in Challinor.
Winning the National League at the first opportunity, to then taking the Hatters to the League Two play-off final at Wembley in our first season back into the Football League is some feat.
It’s been a frustrating start, but managers with a CV like that are short in supply.
Team News
Last Saturday got off to a dream start, with Louie Barry netting his second goal of the season inside five minutes against Mansfield.
That low-driven shot now makes Barry two-in-two and is commonly the player that looks most threatening in a County team that’s clearly struggling for goals.
After Ben Hinchliffe, Barry is surely the next name on the team sheet ahead of Saturday.
Despite the three goals conceded, Akil Wright made some important interceptions and looked at home back in the starting lineup.
His situation may now be complicated with the signing of Alfie Pond on a season-long loan from Wolves. Challinor’s post-game comments suggest he’s happy persisting with Ibou Touray in the centre-back role, so it’s likely the position left vacant by injuries to Neill Byrne and Macaulay Southam-Hales will be fought out between Wright, Ethan Pye and new-man Pond.
Dave Challinor on Alfie Pond: “Can do a bit of everything so; good size, aerially dominant, we obviously need someone who can play central or either side of that back three for us and he ticks all those boxes. Comfortable on the ball and in possession.”
Deadline day saw Connor Evans depart the club on a season-long loan to AFC Wimbledon, which will take him up to the end of his contract. He joins fellow Hatter Joe Lewis who’s also there on loan until the end of the season.
There’s hope that County’s injury woes may be drawing to a close, with Challinor’s preview confirming that Powell, Camps, Sarcevic and Wootton have all been back in training this week.
Of those four, it seems as though Powell and Sarcevic are the closest to full fitness and may be in contention at the weekend.
To bolster the midfield, County have also enlisted the help of 18-year-old Joel Cotterill on a season-long loan from Swansea City.
Opposition Watch
As frustrating as our own fortunes may have been last week, it doesn’t compare to Crawley, who fell to a heavy 6-0 defeat at Swindon.
Manager Scott Lindsey says his side have spent the week in training reflecting heavily and trying to break down exactly what went wrong.
Prior to that, the Reds have been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of form, with two wins, two losses and a draw.
Away form has been a particular issue, as the side are yet to win an away match this season. County will be hoping to keep it that way.
Manager Scott Lindsey breaks down heavy defeat to Swindon: “We know we’ve got a good group here, but we’re also very young and we know that potentially with a young group that can happen sometimes.”
Currently sat in 13th, having been tipped by the likes of FourFourTwo to finish rock bottom, Crawley may be quite happy with the start they’ve made.
The same magazine predicted County to win the league, which goes some way to illustrating the perceived gulf between the two sides on paper.
They signed Danilo Orsi from Grimsby this summer, who’s come in and started as a number nine in all five of Crawley’s opening fixtures.
He didn’t arrive a prolific talisman, having scored two goals in 24 games for Grimsby last season, the exact same record he held at Boreham Wood the season before that.
Despite that, he’s already off the mark for 23/24, having bagged a goal in his third game for the Reds against MK Dons.
Crawley have also strengthened their back-line this week, with the addition of Laurence Maguire, brother to England-international Harry Maguire, on loan from Chesterfield until January. The new-man could feature against County on Saturday.
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 is referee Marc Edwards. He has refereed predominately in League One and League Two this season, as he did last season. Edwards last took charge of a County game in the Hatters 4-0 FA Cup victory over Swindon Town last November, where he issued four yellow cards.
Last season, over the course 27 games, Edwards issued 85 yellow cards and just one red card.
He’ll be assisted on the day by Karl Buckley and Lisa Rashid. The fourth official will be Oliver Bickle.
Thanks for taking the time to read today’s Pocket Preview. The next instalment ahead of the Wimbledon away game will land on Friday, Sep 8.
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