By Liam Price
It’s a familiar rival for the Dabbers on Tuesday night (7.45pm kick-off) as we host Stafford Rangers. The only unfamiliar thing about it is it not being on a bank holiday; it’s the first time since 2018 that that’s happened.
Staff-urday Night Fever
There’s been an awful lot of change at Stafford over the last few weeks as they attempt to turn around an underwhelming start to the season. The most prominent of these was the resignation of Dave Cooke as Stafford manager after the 4-0 home defeat to Widnes at the end of September that left them right towards the bottom end of the NPL West.
Dale Belford was drafted in as Cooke’s replacement and early results have been promising. He started off with a 2-1 win away at Bootle, then a goalless draw with Kidsgrove and defeat away at Wythenshawe. Last Saturday saw their biggest win for 2 and a half years as they thrashed Atherton Collieries 5-0 at home. That has moved them up to 16th in the table.
There’s also been turnover in their squad, Joe Robbins coming back to the Dabbers being the most obvious. But the return of Kaiman Anderson has given them further threat up top as AJ Leitch-Smith left to go to Hanley.
Last Time We Met
How times change. It was only in April 2023 that the two sides last played each other, as Paul Carden looked to pull off the great escape in the NPL Premier in the early days of his time at the Dabbers. It ended as a 1-1 draw, with highlights below. But the scorers that day? For Stafford a certain Callum Saunders and for Nantwich a certain Dan Cockerline. On Tuesday they’ll face each other wearing the opposite shirts.
Players to Watch
Dave Cooke signed a number of recent Dabbers during his tenure as manager, but some have moved on since he also left, such as Joe Mwasile, Leitch-Smith, and Robbins. Tommy Montefiori was almost also signed were it not for visa issues.
Cockerline is Stafford’s top scorer on 5. Sean Cooke, Sean Lawton and Jacob Edwards have also been in recent squads. Anderson scored his first 2 goals since his return in that game as well. The two other goals were scored by John Atherton, who also scored in the defeat to Wythenshawe the game before.
Match Information
Tickets for this game are available online HERE or on the gate with cash or card. Dogs are allowed so long as they are kept on a lead. Commentary will be available on the Cat HERE.
An important note for anyone parking: please try to use either the main or overflow parking areas at the stadium. If you have to use on-street parking then please be respectful to local residents.