STOCKPORT County will look to arrest their recent slump in form when they travel to the West Midlands to play Worcester City on Saturday (KO 15:00 BST).
Except, of course, they will be stopping some fifteen miles short of Worcester and spending the afternoon at Aggborough, in Kidderminster, where City have been hosting fixtures since the sale of St George’s Lane to a property developer in 2013.
It will be the penultimate ‘home’ match to be played by Worcester under this particular ground-share arrangement, before the nomadic club begins a two-to-three-year spell of entertaining visitors at Bromsgrove from next season.
The Hatters, currently lying 11th, make the trip on the back of three straight defeats within a week that ended any prospect of a finish in the play-off positions – but their quest to get back to winning ways will not be made any the easier, given that this is a fixture from which they have previously emerged with neither a victory nor a goal to their name.
The two sides fought out a scoreless draw two seasons back. And City ran out 2-0 winners last year… although any memories of the football on display that February Saturday were firmly put in the shade by another form of contact sport!
For, towards the end of the game, Vanarama football had met WWE, as City defender Shabir Khan reacted to a rash challenge from Charlie Russell by gathering and lifting the young Hatter in his arms before throwing him to the ground.
Was it a body slam? Or a back suplex? Debate raged in quality newspapers and among the chattering classes, as coverage of the incident went viral on YouTube. Neither Khan, who was sent off, nor Russell, now on loan at Northwich Victoria, will be appearing for a re-match, though!
Worcester are three places below County, and five points above the relegation-zone, following a sequence of ten matches in which they have lost just the once – but only triumphed on two occasions.
Of their seven draws, four have been achieved against clubs occupying top-five positions: namely leaders Solihull, as well as Boston, Harrogate and North Ferriby – against the latter of whom City secured a highly creditable, and entertaining, three-all result in East Yorkshire last Saturday.
Clearly, then, a tough nut to crack. And in Deon Burton and leading scorer Lee Hughes, Worcester possess two veteran strikers with Premiership credentials of whom County will need to beware.
City can also now call upon full back Tyler Weir, who returned against North Ferriby after completing a two-month ban imposed by the FA for failing to declare approaches over match-fixing.
The hosts’ captain will be a familiar face to County fans with long-ish memories, as Danny Jackman featured regularly for the Hatters in League One between 2003 and 2005.
The Hatters themselves are again likely to be without Lewis Montrose in midfield because of a knee problem – but will hope to welcome back to the squad on-loan goalkeeper Dean Henderson and striker Richard Brodie, who last weekend were both prevented by illness from joining the squad at home to Lowestoft.
Provisional Squads:
Worcester City: Vaughan (GK), Ross (GK), Gudger, McDonald, Minihan, Morris, Sharpe, J Smith, Thomas, Weir, L Donnellan, Gater, Jackman (C), Ward-Cochrane, S Donnellan, Waldron, Ologu, Burton, Hughes, Nti, Murphy, Webb, Perry, Bakayoko.
Stockport County: Henderson (GK), Ormson (GK), D Smith (GK), Morton, Poscha, Todd, Roberts, Connolly, O’Hanlon (C), Smalley, Ellison, Joyce, Field, Garvin, Holsgrove, Grimshaw, Wilson, Menagh, Odejayi, Marsden, Brodie, Anoruo, West.
Referee: Simon Barrow
Assistants: Gareth Hubbard and Mark Pearson
By Gareth Evans
@GarethE77815055
Recent Comments