Crewe v County

A trip to Gresty Road… take two

Tuesday 31 January 2023

Jeff Eckhardt smashing in a late winner in front of a packed away end. Jarkko Wiss scoring with five minutes to go to send County into the fifth round of the FA Cup. Paul Jones stepping up to score the winning penalty in the Auto Windscreens. There’s been some great moments at Gresty Road over the years, and I’m not going to lie, I’m a little bit excited for tonight. I’m very much looking forward to seeing lots of you on the other side of Cheshire a little later on.

Back in November, many readers will have heard the devastating news regarding a lifelong County fan whose wife has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. A fundraising event, to raise money for ongoing treatment as well as supporting a young family, has been organised for this Saturday at Our Lady’s in Stockport. There’s now just 13 tickets remaining. Let’s get these sold over the next couple of days if we can. Contact details are in the image below.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to Paul and all the team at Colourtone for sponsoring today’s edition. See below for further details on what they have to offer.

Finally, today’s edition is dedicated to the memory of lifelong County fan Dave Wilkes (pictured sat down), who’s sadly passed away. Known as ‘The Mayor of Brinnington’ to many, even if you didn’t know Dave personally, I’m sure you’ll recognise his face, as he followed County all over the country for over 50 years. Our sincere condolences to all of Dave’s friends and family.

Des Junior

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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 providers to have a pre-match natter with. Here’s their thoughts, as well as their score predictions, ahead of our first trip to Crewe since the day we were relegated to the Conference in 2011.

Ian Brown, hedgegrower

Crewe 0 County 2

We’re currently 12th, 17 points off 2nd and 17 points off the relegation places. Are we looking like a mid-table team this season or is there more to come?

Well, mid-table would be no disaster, but I have said before that we have sufficient quality in our squad to do better. Three automatic places are an attractive proposition and the third of these is not yet outside our reach so we bat on!

Having said that, it is essential that we hold our nerve and keep doing what we do, so Dave Challinor will need to quickly decide his best 11 and stick to it as far as injuries allow, and Saturday’s experience at Plough Lane underlined the importance of this aspect to me as Madden’s exclusion in favour of Camps came back to bite us big time on 32 minutes when Hippolyte failed to beat the keeper from the spot.

Madden looked our most dangerous player when he came on and looks anything but an ageing star pining for a rest. We need to keep our best players on the park where they can contribute.

Rant over, what of Crewe v County?

Well, play Madden from the start and with Crewe not that likely to indulge in the dark arts I see us coming back with at least a 2-0 win.

Jonathan Baker aka Geordie Hatter, The County Away Day Show

Crewe 0 County 2

County away days. Do you prefer Saturday afternoons or Tuesday nights?

That's a tricky one! Saturday afternoons you have the prospect of a full day out and having a touristic look about the host town for a couple of hours and maybe (OK, certainly, who am I kidding…) stopping by at an away-fan-friendly hostelry or two during the excursion, so there's really not much not to like about any of that! I do have a slight logistical issue with the more far-flung Saturday afternoons, however, due to a certain regular and County-themed engagement I have here in SK2 until exactly 11am (“when the news comes on...”) so the alternative of an early midweek dash from work (which never presents a logistical challenge, believe me...) and a night under the lights of wherever we find ourselves can prove an attractive option also, even more so when there's a train that will get you back as well as there! Truth is... I just love an away day whenever the opportunity presents itself and cannot choose between the options!

No such hesitation on tonight’s score prediction, however. County to win, and if not at a canter, then certainly at a light trot (is that actually slower than a canter?). 2-0 the scoreline, with a goal in each half.

County’s last 10 meetings with Crewe:

Crewe 0 County 0 (2001-02, Division 1)

County 0 Crewe 1 (2001-02, Division 1)

County 1 Crewe 4 (2002-03, Division 2)

Crewe 1 County 0 (2002-03, Division 2)

Crewe 0 County 3 (2008-09, League 1)

County 4 Crewe 3 (2008-09, League 1)

Crewe 1 County 4 (2009-10, Johnstone’s Paint Trophy 1st round)

County 3 Crewe 3 (2010-11, League 2)

Crewe 2 County 0 (2010-11, League 2)

County 2 Crewe 0 (2022-23, League 2)

Can County dust off their January cobwebs with a win at Gresty Road tonight? Are we going to finish any higher than mid-table? And do you prefer away games on a Saturday afternoon or Tuesday night? Leave your comments below.

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Give your car a lick of paint

Granted, Stockport used to be a little rough around the edges. But the town’s getting a good old lick of paint these days, with fancy new offices, apartments, bars and restaurants springing up. You can’t be driving up and down the A6 in a tatty car with chipped paintwork, so give your car a nice lick of paint too. Colourtone is your go-to company for that. They’ve been servicing the automotive and industrial markets in Cheshire and Greater Manchester for decades, and carry an extensive range of car paint and industrial paints.

Click here for contact details.

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Today in SK

🎮 If you didn’t manage to get a ticket for the Cheshire derby tonight, and you fancy yourself as a bit of a FIFA whizz, head down to Bask. There’s £100 cash to be won in their brand new FIFA tournament. Email hello@thisisbask.co.uk to enter.

🍻 Going out for a beer tonight? You can get two bottles of Budweiser for £6 at the Dog & Partridge (Buxton Road, Great Moor).

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Good & Bad

A number of our readers reflect on January.

👍 Good 👍

Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley.

The tantalising prospect of this country being nuked to fuck and starting again from the rubble.

White Creme Eggs.

Notion staying open till 4am.

The County Courtyard.

Saturdays at Bask.

Birthdays as you get older, if you ignore how old you’re actually getting.

Reruns of Early Doors.

Ryan Croasdale.

Being in the Football League.

It ends today.

Fish and chips.

👎 Bad 👎

Crewe’s frost covers.

Boris Johnson lying about possibly being blown up by a nuclear weapon.

Losing our way after beating Northampton.

A dead rat on the Pop Side.

Our allocation at Harrogate.

Hippolyte’s penalty.

Trains.

Ryan Reynolds.

Any advert for We Buy Any Car.

It’s lasted for seven months.

Fish, chips and gravy.