Brackley Town preview

Two home matches ahead of tough trips to two of the top four sides give County the chance to close on the leading clubs. That starts with the second ever visit of Brackley Town to Edgeley Park on Saturday.

OPPOSITION FORM

Despite their lowly positions Brackley are on a decent run and have lost just one of the last games in the Vanarama Conference North. The last five of those results were:

DateOpponentResult
4 Oct H v Stalybridge Celtic Won 1-0
7 Oct A v Lowestoft Town Won 1-0
18 Oct H v Tamworth Drew 0-0
25 Oct A v Harrogate Town Lost 0-5
1 Nov H v Colwyn Bay Drew 1-1


OPPOSITION PLAYERS

The side that drew at home to Colwyn Bay last weekend (no substitutes were used.)

NamePosPast Clubs
Billy Turley G Evesham U, Northampton T, Leyton O(L), Rushden & Diam, Oxford U
Dwayne Samuels D/M Grimsby T, Redditch U(L), AFC Telford U, Worcester C, Harrogate T
Chris Carruthers FB Northampton T, Kettering T, Bristol Rov, Oxford U, Crawley T, York C, Gateshead, Hereford U, Corby T
Eddie Odhiambo D/M Oxford U, Southampton, Chester C(L), Yeovil T(L), Tamworth(L), Oxford U, Stevenage Bor, Newport Co, Gateshead
Curtis McDonald D Cardiff C, Accrington S, Carmarthen T, MKS Swit [pol], Forest Green Rov, COUNTY(T), Leyton O, Newport Co, Forest Green Rov
Ryan Austin CD Crewe Alex, Burton A(L), Kidderminster H, Brackley T(L)
Ebby Nelson-Addy M Aston Villa, Loughborugh Uni, Brackley T, Worcester C
Sam Whittal M Wolverhampton W, Cambridge U
Ryan Rowe F Stourbridge, Kidderminster H, Brackley T(L)
Shaun Jeffers F Coventry C, Cheltenham T(L), Cambridge U(L), Tamworth(L), Peterborough U, Newport Co
Eric Odhiambo F Leicester C, Southend U(L), Dundee U(L), Brentford(L), Inverness CT, Denizlispor [tur], Hereford U, Sligo Rov [irl]

During those seven games mentioned previously Town have kept 5 clean sheets. Their original first choice keeper Dean Snedker was in goals for the first game, (before his loan spell ended), then a new signing (and an outfield player) kept Bradford Park Avenue at bay. The injury to loan keeper Jon Viscosi in that game meant Brackley manager had to act quickly to find a new stopper. He turned to veteran Billy Turley a man who has faced County 6 times. 


 
Billy Turley.

He conceded two in both our games against Rushden & Diamonds back in 2003-04, a draw and a County win. In 05-06 he had similar performances against us for Oxford City but last season we failed to put the ball past him when kept goal for Brackley in both Conference North clashes.

So Brackley might be hard to break down - although Harrogate proved when you manage get through it is possible to find plenty of gaps. However the other end of the pitch is more of a problem for the Northamptonshire club. Our visitors are the lowest scorers in Conference North with just 9 league goals. Ryan Rowe tops their scorers list with four of those goals, all but one coming from the penalty spot.



Ryan Rowe.

Ryan will be looking for his first goal against County at his fourth attempt.Ever present midfielder Greg Kaziboni - and Eddie Odhiambo if you include cup goals - are the only other players to score more than once so far this season. However, a fairly strong Brackley Town did score 4 at AFC Rushden and Diamonds' Dog and Duck Stadium in a mid-week County Cup match.

The Brackley squad includes one man who has spent time at Edgeley Park as Curtis McDonald was with the Hatters for a time during the 2010-11. He played against Inverness, Woodley and Glossop as County looked to build up their decimated squad after coming out of administration.

PREVIOUS MATCHES

Brackley had a fairly comfortable 2-0 win last time they visited County. The game attracted one of the lowest crowds of the season for a Conference North game.

Saturday 14 December 2013
Stockport County (0) 0 att 1,941
Brackley Town (0) 2 (Story 63, Diggin 73)
County: Ian Ormson, Kyle Jacobs, Scott Duxbury, Nick Platt (Bobby Lofthouse), Jordan Fagbola, Adam Cowen, Tunj iMoses, Kristian Dennis, Rhys Turner, Phil Jevons (Liam Dickinson), Adriano Moké (Ian Howard). Brackley: Billy Turley, Eddie Odhiambo-Anaclet, Neil Cartwright (Izak Reid), Stephen Towers, Tom Sharpe, Ryan Austin, Owen Story, Brett Solkhon, Ben Mills (Charlie Griffin), Stephen Diggin, Glenn Walker (Elliott Sandy).
Read All Thing's County's report of the game.

MATCH PROSPECTS

With a record of scoring in just half their games County must be looking to take all the points from Brackley's visit. Obviously we do have the slight problem of top scorer Kristian Dennis starting his three game suspension but Alan Lord has brought in 6' 3" Andy Owens on loan from AFC Telford United and hopefully he can provide the ammunition for our attack motivated midfield line whilst looking to add to the goal he scored for Telford earlier in the season. Andy spent his spell at Barrow on the bench coming on for a few games.




Andy Owens
Matthew Todd is still a fair few weeks away from a run out whilst keeper Danny Hurst and full back Scott Duxbury are both under treatment in the hope they can make it on Saturday. It seems likely we will have quite a changed line-up due to the injuries and suspensions but the same attacking attitude we have seen at home in previous games should unlock that Brackley defence and set us up for a play-off six-pointer against Hednesford next weekend.

VANARAMA CONFERENCE NORTH

This weekend's other games and the section of the table directly affecting County's position come the final whistle on Saturday.

Saturday: Chorley v Boston United, Colwyn Bay v Bradford Park Avenue, Guiseley v Lowestoft Town, Hednesford Town v Barrow, Hyde v Gainsborough Trinity, Oxford City v Stalybridge Celtic, Tamworth v North Ferriby United. Sunday: Gloucester City v Harrogate Town.
Pos PL W D L F A GD PT
5 Hednesford T 16 7 4 5 25 17 8 25
6 Boston U 15 7 3 5 25 24 1 24
7 Oxford C 17 7 3 7 33 36 -3 24
8 Guiseley 14 6 5 3 25 17 8 23
9 COUNTY 14 7 2 5 26 20 6 23
10 North Ferriby U 14 6 4 4 23 19 4 22
11 Worcester C 15 5 6 4 16 17 -1 21
12 Colwyn Bay 15 5 5 5 23 23 0 20

In the FA Cup First Round Proper AFC Fylde travel to Plymouth Argyle tomorrow and Worcester City face the much shorter trip to Coventry City on Sunday.


Ian Watts

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