By Liam Price, photo by Jonathan White
After an unusual gap of 9 days, the Dabbers are back in action on Wednesday night (7.45pm kick-off) against Chasetown, in a game that was moved back a day due to the Words and Music Festival concert from John Bramwell at the stadium tonight (Tuesday).
Chase-ing Shadows
Chasetown had been in spectacular form up until the weekend. They were unbeaten in 6 in all competitions in normal play, only losing on penalties to Banbury in the FA Cup, and had won 4 on the spin, the last 3 of those without conceding, 1-0 over Lower Breck, 2-0 over Wythenshawe Town and 3-0 against Newcastle Town.
That was until they travelled to Gigg Lane on Saturday to face Bury, where they lost 4-0 with all the goals coming in the first half, 2 of them from a certain Kai Evans. The most remarkable stat to come out of that game is Chasetown conceding as many goals in 24 minutes at Bury as they previously had for the entire league season put together to that point (4).
They have kept 9 clean sheets in the 16 games they’ve played in all competitions this season, so that Bury game should be treated as an outlier and their defence still seen as a formidable challenge to get past. The Dabbers have kept 4 in 15 games as a comparison.
Having been top last midweek, after Saturday Chasetown are now in 4th before the midweek round of matches. But with just 3 points separating the top 8, at the moment it’s an exciting table with the leader switching almost every gameweek. One thing to mention is the Scholars’ away record, which is 2 wins and a draw from 5 games, not at the level of their supreme home form with 4 wins and a draw from 5.
Last Time We Met
The Dabbers are currently 10 games unbeaten at home in all competitions. The last time we played Chasetown we were 12 unbeaten at home in the league, but the visitors managed to overturn that with a 2-0 win in February, proving much more ruthless in front of goal after the Dabbers spurned chances. Highlights below.
Players to Watch
Luke Yates is the Scholars’ top scorer on 4, but the thing that stands out with their early success this season is just how much they’ve spread the goals around. 11 different players have scored for them across their 16 games, with Joey Butlin, Ty Webster, Max Chimenes and Jack Langston the others to have scored more than once. The Dabbers have also had 11, but without the same success in the league as of yet.
Match Information
You can buy tickets online for this one HERE or on the gate with cash or card.
Dogs are allowed as long as they are kept on a lead.
Please be careful with parking and avoid parking on the road that leads into the housing estate as it causes bad traffic issues. The Snow Hill leisure centre car park just up the road is free to park on after 3pm so please use that if the stadium car parks are busy.