Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
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Location: In the Armchair.
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THE CAZBAR BIG GAME PREVIEW – STOCKPORT COUNTYHere we are then at the sharp end of the season and with the inconsistency of many teams in with a shout any type of attempt to work out possible and probable scenarios is just about impossible at the moment, but when we get to three or four games to go we will try and make some sense of it and see what the possible permutations are, but I think we can almost guarantee one thing, if we are involved or not, this is likely to go to the very last match, a situation we are not unfamiliar with.
My early thoughts are that Stockport probably have the better run in, but that might change by Saturday night.
First things first then…a quick look back to Saturday where we dispatched promotion rivals Crewe and leapfrogged them in the table.
What I am going to say is our unpredictability is becoming a bit predictable, I feared playing Grimsby with their long ball stuff and ten men behind the ball, but I felt Crewe were a team that favoured our style of play and I think it was fairly obvious that Crewe wanted to get the ball down on the deck and try and play decent attractive football, it suited us, and I’ll say it again, on our day there isn’t a team that can live with us that fancies a head to head challenge, and we quickly put Crewe in their place, also we shouldn’t forget in the last few weeks Crewe have turned over teams like Mansfield, Barrow, and Stockport County.
The final scoreline I felt didn’t really tell the full story, it could easily have been, 6-4 or 5-3, or even 4-4 which brings me neatly onto the subject of Michael Kelly who it must be said has made the keepers jersey his own. I’ve almost felt too nervous to mention it before for fear of jinxing him, but we cannot ignore his contributions any longer as his impact on Saturday was every bit as instrumental as any of the goals, and it must be said he has calmed the fears of the Dons fans after weeks of worrying what our shot stoppers would get up to next.
He was out of work in September but once given the opportunity he has grasped it with both hands and long may it continue.
A couple of other things before we press on with the preview, Lewis Bate….how good is he, I wasn’t sure about this guy when he first pulled on a Dons shirt, but I am now, and the other one is Tommo. It shouldn’t be that one player is so essential to our success but him being out against Grimsby was possibly the deciding factor, his return against Crewe showed me what an important part of the puzzle he is for us.
I could go on, but time is of a premium, so below is the current records of both clubs.
Stockport (2nd) – P 37, W 19, D 11, L 7, GF 70, GA 40, Pts 68.
Dons (4th) – P 39, W 20, D 7, L 12, GF 63, GA 49, Pts 67.
Stockport (H) (3rd) – P 19, W 11, D 5, L 3, GF 36, GA 16, Pts 38.
Dons (A) (11th) – P 19, W 7, D 3, L 9, GF 25, GA 30, Pts 24.
Stockport Current Form – DDWDDL
Below is a breakdown of the Stockport home form.
Won – Newport County, Walsall, Notts County, Sutton, Colchester, Tranmere, Grimsby, Doncaster, Forest Green, Wrexham, Barrow.
Drawn – Swindon, Harrogate, Salford, Crawley, Bradford.
Lost – Crewe, Mansfield, Gillingham.
Nothing much jumps out at me, the Barrow and Wrexham wins are from August/September, and much has happened since then, so the only thing I can point at is the defeats to Crewe and Mansfield which suggests they may be vulnerable to a team that likes taking the game to them, come to that Gillingham are no mugs and a good ball playing team.
Top scorer for County is Issac Olaofe who joined them in January 2023 from Sutton Utd for an undisclosed fee. So far he has 18 goals and 2 assists in 39 games, but I’m going to suggest that a bigger threat is going to come from Paddy Madden who has been a thorn in our side for years and always seems to score against us. So far Madden has scored 11 goals this season and also chipped in with 4 assists.
Odin Bailey is top of the assists this season from right midfield with 7 in 32 games but along with Ethan Bristow he had to come off early in last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Salford City although he managed 77 minutes on Tuesday versus Crawley Town, Bristow didn’t feature in the matchday squad.
One person who is a huge doubt is former Don Louie Barry who has been out for several months after getting off to a superb start with 9 goals in 16 games. He got injured against Crewe back in October lasting just 25 minutes and hasn’t been seen since.
For those that like the stats Louie was with us in the 2022/23 season playing 32 games in all competitions and scored just the 1 goal but if my memory serves me it was a superb goal that saw him run from just inside our half in a foot race with Derby County players, and then rounding the keeper and sticking it into an empty net.
The Stockport manager is Dave Challinor who formerly played for Tranmere, Stockport, Bury, and Colwyn Bay as a centre back but a persistent knee injury forced him to hang up his boots after just over 400 games.
Since his retirement where he was already the player manager at Colwyn he has gone on to manage AFC Fylde, Hartlepool United, and since November 2021 he’s been in charge of the Hatters at Edgely Park and in his first season guided them back to the EFL.
His career as a gaffer covers 711 games, and not once has his Win Ratio slumped to less than 45%. Currently at Stockport his record is equally as impressive with 141 games played with 76 wins, 33 draws and 32 defeats, giving him a Stockport Win Ratio of 54%.
We have a decent record against Stockport with details of that plus Dons scorers below that shows we have won at Edgely Park on 4 of our 5 visits.
2004/05 – Stockport 3 Dons 1 (Tapp)
2004/05 – Dons 2 Stockport 1 (Lewington, Edds)
2006/07 – Dons 2 Stockport 0 (McLeod 2)
2006/07 – Stockport 1 Dons 2 (Platt, Andrews)
2007/08 – Dons 0 Stockport 2
2007/08 – Stockport 2 Dons 3 (Wright, Navarro, Andrews)
2008/09 – Dons 1 Stockport 2 (Gerba)
2008/09 – Stockport 0 Dons 1 (Wilbraham)
2009/10 – Dons 4 Stockport 1 (Puncheon 2, Easter, Quashie)
2009/10 – Stockport 1 Dons 3 (Easter, Wilbraham, Townsend)
2023/24 – Dons 1 Stockport 2 (Eisa)
That totals up at P 11, W 7, D 0, L 4, GF 20, GA 15.
The reverse leg of this fixture was on September 16th where we lost 2-1 with Stockport’s opener coming from Louie Barry. Mo Eisa levelled and just before halftime Nick Powell scored what turned out to be the winner.
Again delving into the memory banks we edged the possession, but we struggled to break them down in the last third which is a familiar story for us. I don’t recall it being a dirty game , but I note checking the stats that we had 5 players booked, Smith, Robson, Dean, Harvie, and Gilbey.
One thing I will add is if we play this game unchanged from Saturday that is 8 changes from the game in September.
On Monday night Stockport travelled to Crawley to try and gain some ground on Mansfield but it ended up 1-1 with both sides having chances to win it going into injury time.
In a bit of a stat attack, it should be noted that Stockport have just 2 wins in their last 9 away games and have won just once in their last 7 games.
The betting for this game isn’t really a shock and Stockport are of course the favourites.
Stockport 4/5 Draw 14/5, MK Dons 15/4.
I haven’t got a clue on team news, but I’d say Kemp is a doubt as he looked to be is some distress at the final whistle and was reportedly throwing up which some have suggested is a common reaction to a shoulder dislocation…who knows.
I am though hoping we might see a return to the bench at least for Jack Tucker and Max Dean, it was rumoured this was the targeted match, and they are now back in full training, so fingers crossed.
As for a prediction, well it all hinges on which Dons team turns up, the one that faced Mansfield or the one that struggled at Grimsby.
See You Soon.  WD
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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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