Town | Stockport County |
Introducing the.......Hatters |
After failing to bounce back from relegation last season, Carlton Palmer was sacked just a month into this season. After John Hollins held the fort as caretaker, Sammy McIlroy left his post as Northern Ireland boss to take charge at Edgely Park. McIlroy has, so far, failed to make a major impact on results for the Cheshire outfit's results. County currently sit in the fourth relegation place and just four points off the bottom. McIlroy has so far only brought in two loan players, Leicester defender Matt Heath and Aston Villa defender Danny Jackman. Palmer did bring in a few new faces in the summer though. Former Sheffield Wednesday badboy Owen Morrison joined ex-Everton Stuart Barlow in signing. |
Team News |
Darren Barnard is away on international duty with Wales leaving a gap at leftback. Paul Groves will resist the temptation to move Jason Crowe out of midfield though. Greg Young looks set to get the nod ahead of Wes Parker and Iain Ward for the role. Crowe's impressive performance in midfield last week means that the erratic Marcel Cas will once again sit on the bench with Stuart Campbell and Iain Anderson out wide. Win Odds - 8/11 | Stockport's only real injury doubt in defender John Hardiker. The former Morecambe man is suffering with an ear infection. One man who will play in defence is (SPIT!) Dave Challinor. Highly rated striker Luke Beckett is still recovering from an operation to repair a damaged cruciate ligament. Beckett is facing at least another three months out. Win Odds - 3/1 |
Likely Teams |
| Formation: 4-4-2 Davison, McDermott, Young, Edwards, Crane, Campbell, Anderson, Hamilton, Crowe, Boulding Onuora. | Formation 3-5-2 Spencer, Clare, Challinor, Heath, Pemberton, Gibb, Goodwin, Welsh, Morrison, Daly, Barlow |
Top Scorers |
Michael Boulding (9) | Aaron Wilbraham (6) | ||||
Boulding's goal was his first in cup competition for the Mariners. First Scorer Odds - 9/2 |
The 24-year-old has chippped in with six goals this season with three of those coming in the last seven games. Wilbraham was sent to Norwegian side Moss FK in 2000 for a months loan in a bid to aid his development. First Scorer Odds - 7/1 |
Bad Boys |
Tony Crane (6) | Des Hamilton (1) | Kevin Ellison (6) | Jon Daly (1) |
Marcel Cas (3) | Iain Anderson (1) | Jim Goodwin (4) | Luke Beckett (1) |
Jason Crowe (2) | Marcel Cas (1) | John Hardiker (4) | Jim Goodwin (1) |
Stuarrt Campbell (2) | Aaron Lescott (3) | ||
Darren Barnard (2) |
Star Man - Stuart Barlow | Remember Me? Nick Colgan | ||||
Emerged as a youth team product at Everton in the early 1990's but found his chances limited at Goodison Park. Productive spells with Oldham and Wigan followed before a return to Merseyside with Tranmere. Here goals and games were less easy to come by with just 62 league starts, 19 goal return, in a three year stay. Moved to Stockport this summer on a free transfer and has hit the net on three occasions so far in the league. |
However first team football did not come with Rhys Wilmot avoiding suspension and injury. It was only in 1999 that Colgan found first team football with Hibs. At Easter Park he proved himself as a class act and it's only finances that have sent him on loan to Stockport. Highly likely to move back to England in January with a host of clubs lining up moves for the 30-year-old. |
