James Heneghan's Stockport County v Northampton Town preview

Date/time: January 14, 3pm kick-off

Venue: Edgeley Park

Forecast: 7C, overcast

Outs and doubts: Stockport: Fraser Horsfall. Cobblers: Ali Koiki, Lee Burge, Shaun McWilliams, Tyler Magloire.

Betting: Stockport 4/5, draw 5/2, Northampton 15/4

Form guide: County LLWWWW, Cobblers LWLDWD

Current league positions: 14th v 3rd

Possible line-ups: Stockport: Hinchliffe, Wright, Byrne, Hussey, Bardsley, Croasdale, Hippolyte, Rydel, Collar, Madden, Wootton. Cobblers: Maxted, McGowan, Sherring, Guthrie, Odimayo, Leonard, Fox, Pinnock, Hoskins, Eppiah, Appéré.

In charge: Rebecca Welch

Last time out: Stockport 1 (Madden) Walsall 2 (Johnson, Williams); Salford 2 (Galbraith, McAleny) Northampton 1 (Hoskins)

Most recent meeting: September 24, 2022 – Northampton 2 (Hoskins, Lintott) Stockport 1 (Horsfall)

Record v Stockport County: P51 W21 D14 L16

Preview: Do not be fooled by Stockport County’s mid-table league position, there is a case to be made that tomorrow’s game at Edgeley Park is the toughest fixture the Cobblers have left this season.

The bookies certainly don’t rate Town’s chances as they return to Greater Manchester for the second successive Saturday; it’s not often that a side in third are backed at around 3/1 to beat a team in 14th, but those odds reflect Stockport’s excellent recent form.

The Hatters only returned to the EFL following an 11-year absence last season but the manner in which they swept to the National League crown, coupled with their ambition in the transfer market, made them many people’s tip for not only back-to-back promotions but a second successive title.

Whilst a surprisingly slow start left them playing catch up, in the last couple of months they have resembled the team most people expected. County have won eight of their last 12 league games – the most of anyone in that period – and Dave Challinor was rewarded with the League Two Manager of the Month award for December.

They might be 14th in the standings but beat Northampton tomorrow and they’ll be nine points off third with two games in hand and suddenly a late dash for automatic promotion, let alone the play-offs, does not seem quite so fanciful.

With Paddy Madden, Kyle Wootton and Will Collar all in the goals, Stockport’s attacking ranks hardly needed bolstering in the January transfer window but the arrival of Millwall striker Isaac Olaofe provides another option up top for Challinor. Tranmere defender Neill Byrne also comes in at the back after ex-Cobbler Fraser Horsfall was ruled out for up to two months with a foot injury.

For Northampton, the difficult games just keep coming in what is a brutal period of the season. Between the end of November and the start of February, the Cobblers play 11 games. The current league positions of their opponents during that run are as follows: 5th, 15th, 4th, 9th, 8th, 1st, 7th, 14th, 9th, 6th, 11th.

Despite defeat to Salford last time out, they remain in a strong position and can consolidate themselves in the top three by beating their rivals. Jon Brady, though, will be sticking to that age-old mantra of one game at a time – and it doesn’t get much tougher than in-form Stockport County at a bouncing Edgeley Park.

Prediction: Stockport County 1 Northampton Town 1