Stockport County v FC Halifax Town- The Preview.

IN THE PAST

FC Halifax Town have now been around for seven years but they become the first of the four guaranteed debutant clubs at Edgeley Park this season - the others being GAP Connahs Quay Nomads, Cirby Tiown, and Curzon Ashton. Although this is their first visit to Edgeley Park they have become frequent opponents for the Hatters in the last few years, with back-to-back trips to The Shay in 2012 and 2013.

In both those games the team from the lower tier of football recorded the victories. In 2012 that was Halifax, as despite the County side putting in a lively performance - at times. The first goal came when a ball over the defence left the back four stranded and Dale Johnson nipped in to score. Even a nasty injury to Danny Gardner, who had been their most impressive player to that point, didn't hinder Halifax much. In the second half County failed to take a host of chances and when a penalty was awarded for a trip, Jamie Ranford completed the victory from the spot.

Saturday 21st July 2012
FC Halifax Town (1) 2
Stockport County (0) 0
Halifax: Matt Glennon, Liam Hogan, Jason St Juste,(Luke O'Brien), Jason Jarrett, Ben Futcher (Conor Qualter), Daniel Lowe, Ryan Toulson (Liam Needham), Dan Gardner (Jamie Rainford), Dale Johnson, Paul Marshall (Charlie Binns)
County: Ian Ormson, Andy Halls (Ben Say), Sean Newton (Kyle Brownhill), Joe Connor (Andy Graham), Danny O'Donnell (Jordan Fagbola), Sam Sheridan (John Nolan), Danny Whitehead (Deji Omoboye), Alex Kenyon (John Obi-Agbo), Danny Hattersley (Daniel L Rowe), Carl Piergianni (James Tunnicliffe), Craig Hobson (Cameron Darkwah)

One year on, with league status reversed, County got revenge with a good performance. Kieran Dennis took his pre-season tally to 8 goals with strikes on 19 and 50 minutes. This formed the basis of the win and although Marc Roberts pulled a goal back with 75 minutes left, substitute trialist Kayde Coppin responded soon after.

Saturday 3rd August 2013
FC Halifax Town (0) 1 Roberts
Stockport County (1) 3 Dennis 2 Coppin
Halifax: Matt Glennon, Danny Lowe, Scott McManus (Matty Pearson), Keith Briggs (Paul Marshall), Marc Roberts, Simon Ainge, Adam Smith, Lois Maynard, Josh Wilson (Sean Williams), Dan Gardner (Alex Johnson), Kevin Holsgrove
County: Ian Ormson, Kyle Jacobs, Stephen O'Halloran, James Tunnicliffe, Jordan Fagbola, Kieran Charnock (Aman Verma), Rhys Turner (Kayde Coppin), Jamie Hand (Paris Bateman), Phil Jevons (Brandon Windsor), Ian Craney, Kristian Dennis

PLAYING CONNECTIONS

The name in both those Halifax line-ups that jumps out is keeper Matt Glennon - the player who probably had the longest gap between appearing on the bench for County's first team and making his debut. As can be seen below, Matt is still on the book at The Shay, having agreed to a new one year contract. He was a very popular player in his two seasons as first choice keeper at EP, playing 63 games.

The Shaymen also have another ex-County man in Danny Hattersley. Danny was brought to EP through the club's Myerscough College connections . He scored 16 goals for County in just 34 starts, not bad for a team that was generally struggling. . Having been loaned out to Southport in March 2013 by short term manager Darije Kalezić (now boss at Roda JC in the Netherlands), this will be County fans first chance to welcome Danny back at EP. When we were relegated from the National league Southport paid an undisclosed fee to make the loan move permanent.

FORM

Halifax have so far played two pre-season friendly matches. They started with a game at Tadcaster, where goals from Sean Turton and former County man Hattersley gave them a 2-0 win. On Tuesday they visited County's FA Cup opponents of September 2013, Brighouse Town. This time they had a more comfortable win scoring five without reply. Sam Walker scored from the spot early on, an incident that meant the home side were down to 10 men. It didn't get any better for the home side as Adam Field headed an own goal. The second half saw three goals in the last half hour through trialist Sean Tuton and two by Jordan Burrow.

Much like County our visitors have been on a major recruiting drive during the summer months with eight new signings so far, plus plenty of trialists in their pre-season games. Most well known name to County fans will be Andy Bishop - who was rumoured to have interested the County management. He Is a man who seems to enjoy playing against County, having scored 5 goals in just 8 games, including two in the Trophy replay at Wrexham last season.

The men involved for Halifax in their pre-season games so far are.

NamePosKnown Past Clubs (may not be complete)
Jordan Porter G
Matt Glennon G Bramhall North,  Bolton W,  Port Vale (L),  COUNTY (L),  Port Vale (L),  Bristol Rov (L),  Carlisle U (L),  Hull C,  Carlisle U,  Falkirk,  St Johnstone,  Huddersfield T,  Bradford C,  COUNTY,  Chester
James Bolton RB Macclesfield T,  Workington(L),  Stafford R(L),  FC Halifax T(L)
Scott McManus FB Manchester U,  Prestwich Heys,  Curzon Ashton,  Crewe Alex,  FCUM
Matt Brown D Tranmere Rov,  Manchester C,  Marine,  Northwich Vic,  Chesterfield,  Southport(L),  Chester(L),  Chester
Graham Hutchison CD Lincoln C,  Birmingham C,  Lincoln C(L),  Worcester C(L),  Worcester C
Kevin Roberts FB/M Chester C,  Cambridge U
Kingsley James D/M Sheffield U,  Port Vale,  Chasetown (L),  Hereford U (L),  Hereford U,  Chester
Hamza Bencherif CD/M Guingamp [fra],  Nottingham For,  Lincoln C (L),  Macclesfield T,  Notts Co,  Plymouth Arg,  JS Kabylie [alg],  Lincoln C
Jake Hibbs M L to Salford C(L),  Droylsden(L),  Hyde(L)
Samuel Walker M Woodley Sports,  Mossley,  Curzon Ashton
Elliott Whitehouse M Sheffield U,  York C(L),  Alfreton T(L),  Notts Co,  Nuneaton T(L)
Josh MacDonald M/W Middlesbrough,  Billingham T,  Marske U
James Caton M/W Shrewsbury T,  Southport (L)
Andy Bishop F Walsall,  Kidderminster H (L),  Kidderminster H (L),  Rochdale (L),  Yeovil T (L),  York C,  Bury,  Wrexham (L),  Wrexham
Jordan Burrow F Chesterfield,  Boston U (L),  Morecambe,  Stevenage,  Lincoln C
Danny Hattersley F Metropolitan FC Castletown,  Myerscough Coll,  Lancaster C,  COUNTY,  Southport (L),  Southport,  FC Halifax T (L)
Sam Hillhouse F
Danny Maguire F Newcastle U,  seaton Delaval,  Blyth Sp
Dominic Marie F Winsford U,  L to Winsford U (L),  New Mills (L),  Mossley (L),  Bacup & Rossendale Bor (L)
Sean Tuton F Matlock T,  Belper T,  Matlock T,  Buxton



To clarify regarding Matt Glennon; he was on the bench for the first time for the visit of Port Vale on 19th September 1999, whilst on loan to County. His competitive debut for the club came on 4th September 2010 at Macclesfield.

Ian Watts

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