County are on the National League road again on Tuesday night as we travel to Solihull Moors, looking for a first ever victory at Damson Park to maintain our place in the play-offs.
Defeat away at Weymouth on Saturday saw us lose ground on the top three in the National League, with Torquay, Sutton and Hartlepool all level at the top on 47 points, seven ahead of us, although we remained in 4th after Wrexham and Eastleigh failed to win.
Solihull meanwhile rescued a late draw at home to Maidenhead at the weekend thanks to a goal from former County man Jamie Ward – a result that left them 16th in the league table, six points shy of a play-off place with games in hand on many of the sides above them.
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Since we last met:
When we welcomed Solihull to Edgeley Park back in October, we went into that game top of the National League table having won four of our opening five games, whilst Jimmy Shan’s side were fifth with three wins from four.
Stalemate that day, a battling 0-0 draw that saw County twice strike the woodwork, saw us slip off top spot – a position we have failed to reclaim since, whilst Solihull remained back in fifth, with both side undoubtedly happy with their starts to the new campaign.
The Midlands side, who were considered one of the favourites for promotion at the start of the season, have struggled to get a consistent run of results going this season, due in part to numerous stoppages in the season disrupting any chance of momentum.
Despite that, a 2-0 win at Dover at the end of January saw them handily placed in 7th, clinging to a play-off place in spite of the fact they’d played just 14 league games, the fewest in the division and as many as five games less than some of the sides above them.
Their form has taken a dramatic nose-dive since that day however, with a run of just one win from their last nine games seeing them plummet into the bottom half of the table and lose serious ground in the race for the play-offs.
Their biggest problem so far this season has been a lack of goals – only four sides have scored fewer than their 28 goals so far this season, whilst their top scorers in the league are Joe Sbarra and former County man Jimmy Ball with four each.
They do though still carry plenty of firepower in the form of former Salford and Aberdeen man Adam Rooney. Having started just in the first five months of the season due to numerous injuries, the Irishman has started the last seven games and will be looking to add to his three goals this season.
There will be plenty of familiar faces for County fans to look out for on Tuesday night, as in addition to Jamie Ward and Jimmy Ball, the Moors also have 2007-08 promotion winning midfielder Stephen Gleeson amongst their ranks, the former Wolves man making the move to Damson Park in the Summer.
Match Stats:
- County will be looking to improve a poor head to head record against Solihull, having won just one of our nine previous meetings, having never won at Damson Park in four attempts.
- A win in this game would see us equal our total of seven away league wins in the whole of last season.
- Solihull have the joint best defensive record at home in the league, conceding just seven league goals at Damson Park all season.
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