Crawley v County

The Hatters are unbeaten in four since the Tranmere debacle, but we need to start converting draws into wins to get us over the line

Mar 18, 2024

Monday 18 March 2024

NEXT HOME GAME: MK Dons – Saturday 23 March, 5.15pm

NEXT AWAY GAME: Crawley – Today, 7.45pm

If you’d like to write an article for The Scarf My Father Wore, share a few snippets or photos, or advertise your business, please email thescarfmyfatherwore@substack.com.

Dear County fans, Stopfordians, Crawley supporters, and anyone else from The Football Family joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Monday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.

The Boomtown Rats didn’t like them. The Bangles found them manic. And they always made The Carpenters feel down. For Stockport County, however, Mondays have often been rather special. Especially in a promotion season…

Our two non-league title-winning seasons both featured significant victories on a Monday. In April 2019, goals from Ash Palmer and Matty Warburton clinched a 2-0 victory at home to Curzon Ashton, which placed promotion in our own hands before the final day trip to Nuneaton, with a little bit of help from Glen Taylor of course! Then, three years later, the same scenario unfolded at Chesterfield. Paddy Madden’s penalty secured three important points which gave us a crack at promotion the following weekend. On that occasion, County had a very scary wobble in Wrexham, but we managed to complete the job a week later.

County’s last couple of Football League promotions have actually occurred on a Monday. Brett Angell took us into Division One on that memorable Saltergate evening in 1997, with one of his teammates that evening, Jim Gannon, leading us to our one and only victory at Wembley, and with it a return to the third tier, eleven years later.

Ian Brown thinks we’ll record another important Monday victory tonight, by five goals to two! To be fair, we have had 66 shots in the last 4 games. If we play like we did at Salford on Thursday night, maybe we could score a few this evening. A scrappy 1-0 would do us, however. Too many draws cost us automatic promotion last season, and that has started to become a concern in recent weeks for this year’s run-in too.

I’ve been doing extra work on Hollyoaks all day, so I’m missing my first County game since Boxing Day tonight. Give the lads a cheer from me, though, and a safe journey home to all of our travelling Hatters.

Our first live event of 2024 is taking place next month. ‘Flynny at the Finger’ – an evening with County legend Mike Flynn – is at The Fingerpost on Wednesday 17 April. Start time 7.30pm. Over 60% of the tickets have now been sold. If you’d like to join us, please email thescarfmyfatherwore@substack.com. Tickets are £10 (or £5 for paid subscribers plus anyone who’s written an article for The Scarf My Father Wore). That includes a full colour souvenir programme, and even a little bit of stand-up comedy!

Today’s edition is sponsored by SAW Contracts Ltd. A big thank you to Steve. Give him a call on 0161 285 0307 or email sawcontracts@gmail.com if you’re looking for a qualified joiner in the Stockport area.

Finally, I’m currently walking every street in Stockport to raise money for mental health charity Mentell. If you’d like to make a donation to help me reach my target, please click here.

Total distance so far: 136.36 miles

Total steps so far: 217,174

Total raised so far: £1,641

Total completed streets so far: 271 (Click here for the full list, which includes reports and photos from every day of the walk.)

Further information on the walk can be found by clicking here.

Des Junior

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 travel to Crawley for only the second time.

Ian Brown, hedgegrower

Crawley 2 County 5

Would you start Rico Richards tonight after his performance off the bench at Salford?

I’d definitely start Rico tonight. It was a crucial (if belated) move by Challinor to bring him on after the break on Thursday – one that changed the game, after the lad had existed on a frugal diet of late minutes previously for County.

Rico was lively, worked hard, and his eye for a pass and desire to get a shot off were just what our situation called for. But more than that, I saw glimpses of a very fruitful relationship with Tanto that could prove to be gold dust for promotion-chasing County.

That slide rule pass by Rico that saw Tanto resist the shirt tugging of Curtis Tilt for the first time on Thursday – only to be denied by keeper Alex Cairns – was just what Tanto has needed and I hope we’ve learned that lesson going forward. Slip the ball along the deck for our top scorer to run onto using his phenomenal speed = happiness. Lump it high hoping he’ll chase it = despair.

Rico can give us what’s required in that respect; Wootton’s another as evidenced by his pass for Tanto’s goal against Salford. I think Challinor has a simple decision to make – for me he plays Rico from the start along with Todd Kane who I thought was brilliant. Ibby Touray, too, who showed us just what he can do when he’s positive. His ruthless finish on the end of a first class ‘give and go’ was a standout moment and the perfect answer to the Peninsula boo boys!

This is going to be a tough challenge for County, one that they can win, but a real challenge nonetheless. Crawley have won five of their last six so are on a run of form, but they consistently leak goals, which is enough for me to think that given the correct approach to the game, County can win this one maybe with some to spare.

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Photo of the day

Technique Stadium, Chesterfield

A Paddy Madden penalty (on a Monday, as discussed above) gave County a very important victory during our most recent promotion season. I thought I’d send these (Monday) vibes out into the atmosphere ahead of tonight’s game, just in case any of the football gods are reading The Scarf My Father Wore today.

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Today in SK

🎬 Cinema

Two films at The Savoy Cinema (SK4) today. The Zone of Interest (12A) at 6pm, followed by The Taste of Things (12A) at 8.15pm. Click here for tickets.

🍺 Food and drink

There’s a new craft stout at The Dog & Partridge (SK2) this month. Euphoria is a 4.5% ABV dark, easy drinking kegged stout with a subtle punch of coffee, chocolate and a deep, rich malt flavour.