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Stockport home preview for Saturday

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Stockport home preview for Saturday

Postby Sweden Stag » Thu Aug 18, 2022 7:34 am

For the first time in almost fifteen years, the Stags face Stockport County in a home EFL fixture. Last time out (see more below), it was to be a first-half goal blitz with the Stags 4-0 up at one time, despite missing a penalty. In that game, Conrad Logan, a decade later to keep the Stags goal, kept the Stockport goal.

And this is also the first time in nine years, the Stags play Stockport in any fixture. Then, in March 2013, it was in the BSP with the Stags on the verge of equalling a winning sequence record. Before that game, the Stags had won ten out of eleven after a disappointing home defeat by Kidderminster almost two months earlier, only a few days after the magnificent FA Cup show against Liverpool, starting their best winning run for decades. It was to an easy 4-1 victory for the Stags, then their seventh straight one on the way to a dozen straight three-pointers.

And in fact, the start of the winning during the second half of the 2012-13 campaign, started at Stockport to a 3-1 scoreline on January 15, 2013, a game which was to be the last for Jim Gannon as Stockport boss, as he was axed hours after the game against the Stags.

If the 2012-13 campaign signalled the end of the Stags’ darkest campaign, it was to become even darker for Stockport.

The time-line: At the start of this millennium, Stockport played in the FL second tier and in the 2001-02 campaign took four points off their neighbours and runaway champions, later more-time PL Champions Manchester City. And in 2009-10, the Stockport Hatters faced the likes of Leeds, Norwich, Southampton, Huddersfield and Brighton in League One. But since then, Stockport endured severe problems on and off the field, culminating in two successive relegations, meaning that the Stockport Hatters in 2011-12 were outside the FL for the first time ever.

The problems started in the 2008-09 season after being promoted to League One via the playoffs. Being put in administration meant a 10 point-deduction, yet Stockport managed to stay up. But the following season ended in relegation finishing rock-bottom 18 points from safety, and the problems mounted in 2010-11 when finishing bottom of League Two conceding 51 goals at home in each of the two relegation campaigns.

The Stockport problems mounted in 2012-13. During the first half of that season, they were even above the Stags in the table around mid-November 2012 but fell away rapidly, losing thirteen home games, more than any other side then. And on the same day the Stags sealed their EFL return, the third Stockport relegation within four seasons was confirmed when they were soundly beaten 4-0 at the Stags’ then main BSP Championship rivals Kidderminster Harriers.

From playing the likes of above-mentioned clubs with current and recent PL experience to playing the likes of North Ferriby and Lowestoft within the space of a few seasons was the Stockport fate, and their lowest Conf North ebb was finishing 14th in 2013-14. From then on, Stockport slowly recovered and in 2018-19, Stockport won the Conf North one point above Chorley, a side the Stags played in the FA Cup a year ago, and returned to the Conf National. And during the Conf North days, Stockport also faced Barrow, Harrogate and Salford.

And after returning to the Conf National, Stockport’s fortunes steadily improved. Seventh in 2019-20, reaching the playoffs in 2020-21, and returning to the EFL as Conf National champions a few months ago.

Fact is that all Stockport's relegations within the EFL but one since WW II have been clear-cut. The closest was in the 1958-59 inaugural nationwide Division Three campaign finishing five points below the Stags under the two-point ruling.

Eleven years later, the Hatters finished bottom of the third league seven points below Barrow with just 27 goals scored.

The away game at Stockport in 2011-12 was the first-ever one between the sides outside the FL. That was also to be our first away victory that season and Stockport's first-ever BSP defeat as a Luke O'Neill strike midway through the second half was enough to separate the sides.

At Field Mill (or now One Call Stadium) Stockport have only won on five occasions in league fixtures. And at Stockport, last season's three-pointer was the Stags' sixth league win there of all time there.

Fact is, though, that Stockport never took a single point off the Stags in the BSP.

Much has been expected of Stockport’s EFL return. But they have won just once and lost the rest. And their both away games have been lost in added time to 2-1-scorelines, first at Stevenage, and last Tuesday at Doncaster in a game where Stockport got one player red-carded halfway through the first half. Meanwhile, the Stags came back from being 2-0 down against AFC Wimbledon to gain a dominant 5-2 victory in the end.

An interesting fact is that the teams drew 1-1 at Field Mill on January 13, 1934 and that was one week after Stockport’s record league victory, 13-0 against Halifax, and that also was the first Stags home point gained against the Hatters!

Tucked in between was the last game of the 1962-63 season that clinched the Mighty Stags’ first EFL promotion with the help of a 1-1-draw, scorer Sammy Chapman on May 20, 1963 in front of 3,637 at the expense of Gillingham, and Stockport also smashed the Stags unbeaten start record of 10 games by winning 1-0 on September 29, 1962. The biggest Stags home win was a 5-0 in a 4th division game on October 22, 1973 thanks to three goals from Terry Eccles, one apiece from Dennis Longhorn and Dudley Roberts, attendance 3443, the sixth of seven consecutive home wins at the start of the 1973-74 season. The teams also faced each other in the 1992-93 season with the Stags winning both games. The home tie ended in a 2-0 win for the Stags on October 10, 1992 thanks to goals from Alan Walker and Steve Wilkinson, attendance 3836, and Mansfield also were the ONLY team to win away at Stockport that season thanks to an Ian Stringfellow goal in front of 5307 on February 26, 1993.

The Stags’ biggest win at Stockport so far is a 4-0 on April 6, 1984, scorers Matthews, Barrowclough, Juryeff and Caldwell in front of just 1933, while the worst reverse was a 2-7 defeat on January 14, 1956, Stags scorers Darwin and Jepson attended by 5619. And the first Stags victory at Edgeley Park was achieved as early as on September 22, 1934, when strikes from Atkinson and Kilcar settled the tie, attendance 5932. This was also the Stags’ first away victory in the 1934-35 season. That season also marked the Stags’ first top-half finish in League history. After that win, the Stags had to wait 35 years for the next full-pointer at Stockport. And that happened on October 11, 1969 and was the first of three consecutive away Division Three victories. Stockport, already then rock-bottom and finally finishing last with only 27 goals scored all season, far less than they scored at home in the two previous Division Three campaigns, managing more than two goals per home game in 1967-68 and 1968-69 respectively, were soundly beaten to a 3-1 scoreline after two Stags goals by Dai Jones and one from Dudley Roberts in front of 4039. This was also the first time during that 1969-70 season the Stags had scored more than twice in a league game, a feat that was to be repeated on seven occasions later that campaign. One of those was a 4-1 home win against the Hatters on March 23, 1970, attended by 7824, who watched Roberts score once as did Stenson, while Partridge netted twice.

The teams also clashed in League fixtures in 2002-03, when the Stags had been promoted within the EFL for the most recent time and the Hatters under Carlton Palmer had been relegated from the old division One with barely a whimper, managing just 26 points, having 102 goals put against them, yet took four points off Manchester City!

The league game at Edgeley Park on Bank Holiday Monday in August 2002 summed up much of the Stags’ season of bad luck. This time around, the Stags did everything but score and lost undeservedly 2-0. But revenge was gained a few months later, on Boxing Day when the Stags won 4-2. More on these games in the Match Centre section on Stagsnet.

No game at Edgeley Park in the FL has been goal-less compared to just two at Field Mill. The first one was late in the 1954-55 season, the second in the Stags’ FA-Cup giant-killing one on February 1, 1969, just a few weeks before West Ham were kayoed. Since February 1, 1969, the Stags have scored at least once in EVERY home league fixture against Stockport, seventeen consecutive ones, and the last time Stockport won a league encounter at Field Mill, was on September 6, 1983, when the Hatters won 2-1 in front of just 2167. In fact, the Stags have scored in every home game but four against Stockport in League history.

In the 1-1 game at Field Mill in 2006-07, Matt Hamshaw and Carl Muggleton played for the Stags against one of their previous league clubs, and both repeated that feat at Field Mill on September 1, 2007 in a game where all six goals came in the first half, during the latest EFL fixture between the sides at Mansfield.

There has been several interesting player connections between the sides over the years. Keith Briggs played for Stockport AGAINST the Stags on September 1, 2007, did also that in both games against the Stags in 2005-06, as did Matt Hamshaw. Much-travelled goalie Carl Muggleton played four games for Stockport in the 1989-90 Division Four campaign. Even in 2002-03, Keith Briggs played for Stockport in both games against the Stags, the Stags' 4-2 Field Mill win on Boxing Day 2002 being Briggs' last Hatters fixture in his first spell there before being transferred to Norwich by then Stockport boss Carlton Palmer.

Played for both sides: Keith Alexander, Keith Briggs, Len Butt, Peter Clark (1960’s), Peter Clark (2002), Darrell Clarke, Barry Conlon, Digger Daley, Craig Davies, Damien Delaney, Laurent D’Jaffo, Raymond Evans, David Frain, Bert Garner, Martin Gritton, Matt Hamshaw, Gianluca Havern, Ian Helliwell, Joe Hill, Wally Hunt, Glynn Hurst, Kevan Hurst, James Jennings, Phil Kite, Allan Livingstone, Conrad Logan, David Logan, Leyton Maxwell, Brian McCord, Fraser McLachlan, Alfred Middleton, Ernie Moss, Carl Muggleton, Johnny Mullins, Carlton Palmer, Keigan Parker, Michael Raynes, Martin Pemberton, Tommy Pritchard, Les Robinson, John Rowlands, Terence Swinscoe, Steve Taylor, Steve Uzelac, Tony Vaughan.

Managed both sides: Carlton Palmer. Played for Stags, later managed Stockport: Roy Chapman.

Home stats: P 39, W 24, D 10, L 5, GF 78, GA 40
Away stats: P 39, W 7, D 10, L 22, GF 49, GA 78

Season Home Date Away Date

1932-33 1-2 1933-03-25 2-2 1932-11-12 Div 3 (N)
1933-34 1-1 1934-01-13 1-3 1934-04-07 Div 3 (N)
1934-35 3-2 1935-02-02 2-0 1934-09-22 Div 3 (N)
1935-36 2-1 1936-04-18 1-6 1935-12-14 Div 3 (N)
1936-37 0-2 1937-04-10 1-3 1936-12-05 Div 3 (N)
1947-48 1-2 1948-04-05 0-5 1948-04-17 Div 3 (N)
1948-49 4-0 1948-10-30 0-2 1949-03-26 Div 3 (N)
1949-50 3-0 1950-04-08 0-1 1949-10-08 Div 3 (N)
1950-51 2-1 1951-03-24 1-3 1950-11-04 Div 3 (N)
1951-52 1-0 1951-08-18 1-2 1951-12-15 Div 3 (N)
1952-53 2-2 1952-11-29 2-2 1953-04-18 Div 3 (N)
1953-54 3-1 1953-09-26 2-3 1954-02-13 Div 3 (N)
1954-55 0-0 1955-04-09 2-2 1955-04-25 Div 3 (N)
1955-56 2-2 1955-09-10 2-7 1956-01-14 Div 3 (N)
1956-57 4-2 1956-12-15 1-2 1956-08-18 Div 3 (N)
1957-58 2-2 1957-09-09 3-3 1957-09-16 Div 3 (N)
1958-59 2-1 1958-11-01 1-4 1959-03-21 Div 3 (old)
1960-61 2-2 1960-08-27 0-1 1960-12-31 Div 4 (old)
1961-62 2-0 1961-10-07 1-2 1962-02-23 Div 4 (old)
1962-63 0-1 1962-09-29 1-1 1963-05-20 Div 4 (old)
1967-68 1-0 1968-03-02 0-1 1967-10-13 Div 3 (old)
1968-69 0-0 1969-02-01 1-1 1969-03-10 Div 3 (old)
1969-70 4-1 1970-03-23 3-1 1969-10-11 Div 3 (old)
1972-73 1-0 1972-11-04 1-2 1972-09-25 Div 4 (old)
1973-74 5-0 1973-10-22 1-1 1973-09-10 Div 4 (old)
1974-75 1-1 1975-04-01 2-3 1974-09-20 Div 4 (old)
1980-81 1-0 1980-12-06 1-2 1981-05-01 Div 4 (old)
1981-82 2-2 1982-03-20 0-3 1981-10-30 Div 4 (old)
1982-83 1-0 1982-12-04 1-1 1983-04-08 Div 4 (old)
1983-84 1-2 1983-09-06 4-0 1984-04-06 Div 4 (old)
1984-85 1-0 1985-04-17 1-1 1984-09-22 Div 4 (old)
1985-86 4-2 1985-12-26 2-0 1986-03-31 Div 4 (old)
1992-93 2-0 1992-10-10 1-0 1993-02-26 Div 2
2002-03 4-2 2002-12-26 0-2 2002-08-26 Div 2
2005-06 2-1 2005-11-26 2-2 2005-08-06 League Two
2006-07 1-1 2006-08-12 0-1 2007-02-10 League Two
2007-08 4-2 2007-09-01 1-2 2008-04-09 League Two
2011-12 2-1 2012-04-09 1-0 2011-08-29 BSP
2012-13 4-1 2013-03-09 3-1 2013-01-15 BSP

FA Cup:

1955-56 2-0 1955-11-19 1st round at Field Mill
1982-83 3-2 1982-11-20 1st round at Field Mill
1996-97 0-3 1996-12-07 2nd round at Field Mill

League Cup:

1997-98 4-2 1997-08-12 1st round at Field Mill (first leg)
1997-98 3-6 1997-08-26 1st round at Edgeley Park (second leg)
(Stockport through 8-7 on aggregate)

LDV Vans Trophy:

2003-04 1-2 2003-10-14 at Field Mill

Come on Mansfield!
Stockholm, July 4, 2008, 15.00 GMT. Good news came, K.H. gone. March 1, 2012. Ground purchased.
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