County v Doncaster
Can the Hatters enjoy a first home victory over Donny since an FA Cup tie in 1996-97?
Saturday 7 October 2023
NEXT HOME GAME: Donny Rovers – Today, 3pm
NEXT AWAY GAME: Salford – Tuesday 10 October, 7.45pm
Dear County fans, Stopfordians, and any Donny Rovers supporters joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Saturday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.
I spoke to Steve Jones from the Doncaster Free Press yesterday (click here to read the interview) who gave the following prediction: “Heart says Doncaster win, head says draw or victory for Stockport.” Even with Grant McCann’s men starting to climb the table with three wins in four, having been bottom in mid-September, a journalist who watches Donny every week still thinks it could be a tough afternoon.
Likewise, our own quartet of pundits aren’t fazed by Donny’s upturn in form. We’ve got predictions of 2-1, 2-0, 3-0 and even a cheeky little 4-0. Andrew Barlow, Ian Brown, Paul Thompson and Jonathan Baker are all backing County to record a sixth consecutive victory this afternoon, which could potentially take us to the top of the table, if our namesakes from Nottingham lose at Barrow (plus Wimbledon and Crewe not winning comfortably away from home).
Today’s edition is sponsored by Kingsway Carpets. A big thank you to Neil as always. If you’re looking for carpets, vinyls, laminates or luxury vinyl tiles, call 0161 225 7294 or email info@kingsway-carpets.co.uk. Finance options are available.
Finally, I’m starting my charity walk in the next few days, walking every street in Stockport to raise money for men’s mental health charity Mentell. If you’d like to make a donation to help me reach my target, please click here.
Further information on the walk can be found by clicking here.
Des Junior
PS) If you see this guy today, be sure to say hello / buy him a drink. His name’s Britton, who currently works for the Chicago Cubs in Major League Baseball, but he’s also developed a love for football in recent years, becoming a County fan in the process. Back in February, he wrote this brilliant article for The Scarf My Father Wore about his story. Anyway, he flew into the UK a couple of days ago (“I’ve enjoyed a few good London pubs but I can’t wait for the County matchday experience now!”) and he’s catching a train up to Stockport this morning for his first ever match. And yes, readers, I have told him that we’ll probably “do a County” this afternoon and lose 1-0. Have a fantastic day Britton, and I’m sure the County family, of which you’re now a part of, will make you feel extremely welcome.
Des Junior loves writing about County. But he can never be arsed doing match previews. They’re a bit dull, aren’t they? Paddy Madden’s out for two games with an ingrown toenail…blah blah blah…tomorrow’s referee has handed out more cards than Moonpig…blah blah blah…County haven’t won at Birmingham since 1672.
Fortunately, he has a number of fellow County content creators to call upon. Here’s their thoughts, general chit-chat and score predictions, as County go in search of a sixth consecutive Football League victory, which we last achieved in 2007-08 (a League Two promotion season…) with Jason Taylor scoring both goals in a Friday night win at home to Macc Town.
Andrew Barlow, Hatters Matters
County 2 Doncaster 1
What are your best and worst memories from previous games against Doncaster?
I started following County in the early 90s so I’ve only been witness to a handful of meetings between the two sides. Probably the worst memory of watching a game against Doncaster was the League One meeting between the two sides back in November 2004 at their old Belle Vue ground.
On the pitch things weren’t going very well as heading into the game Sammy McIlroy’s team of vertically-challenged players were six points adrift of safety at the bottom of Coca-Cola League One and had only won two league games all season. We put in a relatively meek performance on our last ever visit to Belle Vue as we lost 3-1, and that result sparked the end of McIlroy’s time at the club as he was dismissed to be replaced on a temporary basis by his assistant Mark Lillis.
The game sticks long in the memory because it was absolutely freezing stood on the terrace behind the goal and it must have taken 30 minutes sat in the car in the car park outside the ground with the heaters on to try and get some feeling back in my feet before attempting the drive home.
I’m genuinely struggling to think of any happy memories from games against Donny as I’ve only seen us beat them once – on that occasion we managed to avoid a shock in the FA Cup first round at Edgeley Park after navigating a 2-1 win under Dave Jones during the 1996-97 season. Colin Cramb – a regular goalscorer for Rovers and someone who I would have liked to have seen playing for County – put the visitors ahead in the 55th minute but goals from Mike Flynn and Andy Mutch ensured it was the Hatters who were in the hat for round two.
That game against Doncaster was the 6th of 21 cup matches we played in that incredible promotion-winning season as we reached the FA Cup fourth round, the northern final of the Auto Windscreens Shield and the semi-final of the Coca-Cola Cup. The win over Doncaster set us on the path to a meeting with our old friends Stoke City in the third round and one last visit to the Victoria Ground – and boy was that a memorable one!
As for today’s prediction, they have recruited well over the summer and have recovered from a very poor start to the season to win three of their last four – including wins over high-flying Gillingham and Crawley – so I expect it to be a tough game. Home advantage will carry us to a 2-1 win.
Paul Thompson, Stockport County Supporters Co-operative
County 4 Doncaster 0
If Donny come and park the bus like they did last season, how are we going to get through, which we didn't manage last time in that 0-0?
Well then, let's see if I can make it three correct scorelines on the run. If I do, please feel free to subscribe to my advanced prediction service, available by request for all good County Supporters Co-op members (please gamble responsibly and remember when the fun stops don’t double-up!). On that note I’m going to go for another high-scoring thrilling game on the crest of the wave we are currently riding. 4-0.
How we will achieve this is obviously by highlighting the unstoppable pace and flair of our main men Tanto and Louie, but I also have a hunch that Macca is due a big starring role to help send the visitors back to Yorkshire on that bus.
Ian Brown, hedgegrower
County 3 Doncaster 0
Our remaining fixtures this month include four games against teams in the bottom nine. Should we be making changes to protect players and taking it easier once we’re a couple of goals up like against Forest Green on Tuesday, or should we be attacking more and focusing on goal difference, as a third goal on Tuesday night would have put us 2nd rather than 4th?
First off, misfortune in the shape of a raft of long-term injuries, has gifted us a team that look comfortable in each other’s company and as a consequence have found a winning formula. There are no square pegs in round holes, and what we have works, so unless further injuries dictate otherwise we should keep to the same starting 11 where possible.
Should we be resting players? I see no great imperative in that direction. Arguably our greatest ever team in 1996-97 played 67 games on their way to promotion. The current workload on players is nowhere near that level; surely they can cope if they are handled properly.
Our current team have a clutch of players who have been eased back into first team action over a prolonged period of time. Sarcevic, Collar and Southam-Hales are just beginning to show us their top game, and we should be happy with this as it fuels our promotion push.
Do these players and others need protecting? We obviously have a duty of care to our players, they need monitoring for sure, and the vast army of thousands off the park who County employ can help our coaches with that.
As for attacking more, I think we have produced some excellent attacking play in the last three games so my view is that we should be saying, “Keep that going.”
What does concern me is our tendency to make a raft of changes in the last 15 minutes or so resulting in us then inviting our opponents to attack us as we retreat into our last third. So far, we haven’t been punished for this but as sure as “eggs is eggs” eventually we will be.
Jonathan Baker aka Geordie Hatter, The County Away Day Show
County 2 Doncaster 0
County’s longest ever game was 203 minutes, against today’s opponents. If you had to keep The Scarf My Father Wore readers entertained for 203 minutes this weekend, what would you suggest?
Well Des, with the possible exception of last week, when your enquiries moved me to tears of nostalgia in recollection of the perfectly-executed potato omelettes of my far-off Castilian youth, I think that this may be my favourite question so far, as you have given me the excuse to dig into the Away Day Show musical archives… and put together a playlist which lasts an exact 203 minutes!
The similarity with our excruciatingly-extended cup tie of yesteryear hopefully begins and ends at that point, as you are not obliged to report to Edgeley Park in order to partake in the proposed entertainment, which means you won’t miss the last bus home.
In fact, thanks to modern mobile phone technology, I understand the playlist may be listened to while actually on a bus, or indeed any form of transport, public or private, as well as in the street; or indeed, thanks to the singular marvels of modern technology (and I for one rejoice in the invention of these new-fangled so-called ‘gramophones’), in the comfort of your own homes.
If you’ve listened to the Away Day Show since its beginnings, then you may recognise the 60 tunes making up the playlist as some choice selections from our shows going back to that first one for Boreham Wood (A) in September 2021 are included. And if you haven’t tuned in before: well, here is your chance to catch up!
I’ve tried to achieve an eclectic representation of our fortnightly Saturday morning output, so there’s everything from a 30-second-long album track by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark composed entirely of a scratchy recording of a continuity announcement on Czechoslovakian state radio (my personal favourite, obviously), to a classic slice of early hip-hop out of Chicago, stopping by at a contemporary Irish country-pop balladeer out of Dublin.
If none of that takes your fancy, then as a County fan you’ll definitely like the one by a Cheadle Ender we have had guesting on the show, whose autobiographical effort countenances head-on the terrifying possibility of your own infant, fresh from mastering the power of speech, casually informing you they would like to support a team in “Red or Pale Blue” (my apologies if you’re reading this over your breakfast; that one should probably come with a health warning.) It’s quite excellent though – and comes in at song number 4 of the 60.
And… well actually we had better stop there, otherwise you’re not going to have time to listen to the playlist before kick-off, and given the history of this fixture, I don’t imagine we can ask for it to be delayed. I’m envisaging an encounter lasting a thankfully manageable 103 minutes, which will likely feel somewhat longer owing to an expected tactical approach from our West Riding visitors which will make that deployed by the Mexicans at the Alamo look like an object lesson in cavalier offense. County to break down at length the visitors’ desperate massed ranks – and emerge bloodied but victorious. 2-0.
Click here to listen to Geordie Hatter’s epic playlist!
It’s time to get a new carpet
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Photo of the day
AO Arena, Manchester
Micky Flynn and Co enjoying a little bit of Deacon Blue in Manchester last night. A band playing a song called “Dignity” in front of a County captain who had that by the bucketload.
Today in SK
🇮🇹 Food and drink
Lite bite meal deal at The Friary (SK3). Cod or haddock, served with chips, and a side of peas, curry or gravy. Plus tea or coffee. £9.95. 11.30am - 6.30pm.
How good do those Arancini Siciliani look! They’re back on the specials board at The Italian (SK6) as a starter throughout October. Homemade the traditional Sicilian way, arancini are saffron-infused fried risotto balls with a mozzarella, peas and slow-cooked beef ragu filling. Call 0161 406 6261 to book a table for tonight.
Bottomless Saturday at TRUNK (SK7). Bottomless lunch £35 per person (includes 3 tapas dishes) from 12pm till 4pm. T&Cs apply and 90 minutes of selected bottomless drinks. Call 0161 222 9260 to book a table, and mention “The Scarf My Father Wore” to receive a 15% discount off the normal tapas menu.
🎤 Karaoke
Lee at The Nelson Tavern (SK1). 8pm - 1am.
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