County are back in action at Edgeley Park this weekend, looking to make it five home games unbeaten against a Harrogate Town side level on points with us in the league table.
Despite twice coming from behind at Crawley Town on Tuesday night with two brilliant goals, County were eventually beaten 3-2 at Broadfield Stadium, a fifth defeat of the season that leaves us in 18th place after eight games. We remain three points clear of the relegation zone, with the gap to the play-off places now standing at seven points.
Although we are yet to pick up a point on our travels so far this season, it’s been a different story at Edgeley Park, where we have remained unbeaten since that opening day loss to Barrow – beating Colchester and AFC Wimbledon, whilst drawing with Swindon Town and Premier League Leicester City.
Our one away win in all competitions this season actually came against Saturday’s opponents, with Connor Jennings’ second-half penalty seeing us win 1-0 at the EnviroVent Stadium in the first round of the Carabao Cup back in August.
Harrogate were themselves beaten in midweek at home to Salford City, as a 93rd minute goal from Matty Lund secured a dramatic 1-0 win for the promotion chasers. It leaves them with an identical record to County this season with two wins, one draw and five defeats – an inferior goal difference means they sit one place behind us in 19th place.
Since we last met:
Just two league games had been played when we first met The Sulphurites in the Cup back in August, when a much changed County side deservedly secured a first win since returning to the Football League.
Now in their 14th season under manager Simon Weaver, currently the longest-serving boss in the EFL, Harrogate began their season with a thumping 3-0 win at home to Swindon Town on the opening day, before following that up with defeat by the same scoreline away at Crewe the following week.
Four points from the two league games immediately after that cup tie made it an impressive start to the campaign for the Yorkshire side, as a 0-0 at home to Crawley and 2-0 win at Gillingham moved them up to ninth place.
Five straight defeats in all competitions have followed since then, including a 4-0 thrashing at home to Newport County three weeks ago, as that early season momentum at the EnviroVent Stadium has come crashing down. They have scored just one goal in those five games, which came from the penalty spot in a 2-1 defeat at Sutton.
The Club were busy in the transfer market on deadline day, bringing in four new additions – all of them at the top end of the pitch. Strikers Dior Angus and Sam Folarin have joined on free transfers, whilst forward Danny Grant and winger Josh Coley have signed on loan from Huddersfield and Exeter respectively.
Folarin and Coley both started in the defeat to Salford as part of a new-look attack for the Town, with Grant and Angus both on the bench.
One to watch:
Armstrong is a famous name amongst County fans, thanks to our legendary striker Alun who spent four years with the Club in the 90s, helping us achieve promotion to the Championship.
His goalscoring touch has clearly been handed down to son Luke, who currently plies his trade at Harrogate Town. The forward played a key role in Hartlepool’s promotion to the Football League under Dave Challinor in 2021, hitting 13 goals whilst on loan from Salford before joining Harrogate permanently that same summer.
The 26-year-old scored 12 goals in League Two last season to help keep his side in the division, and has scored once in seven games so far this campaign.
Match Stats:
- County are looking to win consecutive home games in the Football League for the first time since January 2009, when we beat Southend United and Hereford in SK3.
- This will be the 15th competitive meeting between the two sides. Both sides have won six of the previous 14 meetings, with just two draws.
- After setting up Ollie Crankshaw’s goal on Tuesday night, Antoni Sarcevic now has three goals and two assists in eight league games this season.
- After two more players scored their first goals of the season on Tuesday night, it now means that our 11 goals in all competitions this season have been scored by nine different players. Only Sarce has scored more than once.
Streaming:
The Club have now launched our new ‘Stockport County Live’ streaming website, in association with StreamAMG. This match will be available for overseas supporters to stream live, whilst UK-based supporters will be able access the audio commentary featuring Jon Keighren and Macauley Southam-Hales.
