Argyle’s first meeting with Stockport County this season was in early September. The two sides had had very contrasting starts – Stockport excellent, Argyle’s less so – but the Greens were victorious on a Home Park day in which County could not cope.
Fortunes have fluctuated since, but Dave Challinor’s Stockport are fourth in Sky Bet League One, and have 10 points from the last 12 available. Argyle, in good form of their own, will be required to play at a high level of performance to get something from their visit to Edgeley Park, against a County side that Pilgrims’ Head Coach Tom Cleverley has great admiration for.
“They've got quality players,” Cleverley told Argyle TV. “I watched their performance against Blackpool in the week and I thought it was a really strong performance. Dave was really happy with his team.
“We're going to have to be right at it. But we've showed recently that we can be, on a consistent basis, very intense, and play high level football ourselves. I'm expecting another good game.
“What Stockport have got in abundance is the balance to take a game which way they want. They've got good ball players, good technical players in there, but also they've got the aerial threat of Wootton, and they can be really streetwise and a bit more direct. To try to second guess what they're going to do is difficult. They’re a three [at the back], they’re a four, they're pressing - all different structures, and they've got the ability to mix it up.
“We were excellent that day [in September], but it's a long time ago. The team looks completely different now, so we'll be focusing a lot more on recent form and performances rather than going back into the archives for that game. We know what we have to do to give ourselves the best chance of every football match; that's usually starting with the fundamentals and we're executing them really well at the minute.”
Argyle were missing Lorent Tolaj, Joe Ralls and Conor Hazard in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Mansfield Town. Cleverley is expecting the latter two to be missing at Stockport, with Tolaj’s availability in doubt.
“Tolly (Lorent Tolaj) will be a late decision, so we'll make that one [on Friday],” Tom said. “Conor [Hazard] and [Joe] Ralls, we've said three to four weeks. Bradley [Ibrahim]’s back outside and doing bits with the group, about three weeks away now. [Owen] Oseni, [Owen] Dale and [Jack] MacKenzie are all fit to be selected.
“I like what I see with Jack. It wasn't the circumstances or the game to bring him on the other night, but I can see in his training he's going to be a useful player for us and I'm looking forward to seeing him.”
For the full interview, watch now on Argyle TV.
