County face their first derby of the League One season this weekend, taking on an in-form Wigan Athletic side in a mouth-watering clash at Edgeley Park.
A goal late on in each half from Ethan Pye and Kyle Wootton secured a 2-0 win at Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday night, a first win in five league games for Dave Challinor’s side, to move us back into the play-off places.
County have now lost just one of their opening eight games in League One this season and are unbeaten away from home, although they will be looking to right some wrongs on Saturday in our first game back in SK3 since losing heavily to Leyton Orient a fortnight ago.
We currently sit joint-fourth in the table, with an identical record to Lincoln City, trailing the automatic promotion places by two points with a game in hand on 2nd place Wrexham. The table is incredibly tight right now though, and we sit only three points above Huddersfield Town all the way down in 15th.
14th place Wigan could leapfrog County themselves with a win at Edgeley Park. The Latics come into Saturday on a five game unbeaten run, with five clean sheets in that time, and were convincing 3-0 winners against Peterborough United on Tuesday night.
Things you need to know:
- Tickets in the Vitality Railway End are still available for this fixture, with all other stands now sold out! Click here to order yours today!
- As part of our County Collective programme, we aim to make Edgeley Park a welcoming and inclusive environment for everyone who visits. Click here to see a full list of new initiatives that have been introduced at the ground this year!
- Don’t forget to turn up early to Edgeley Park to visit the County Courtyard, which will be opening its doors from 1pm! For more information on all the food and drink on offer this week, click here.
- Coming to the game on Saturday? Click here to view our Fan Information pack, containing all you need to know ahead of your visit to Edgeley Park.
- Saturday’s game will be available for overseas supporters to stream over on Stockport County Live, featuring live commentary from Jon Keighren and Sam Byrne. Audio commentary will also be available for supporters based in the UK. Click here to purchase your video and audio match passes today.
Our Opponents:
To say the last few years have been a rollercoaster for Wigan Athletic and their supporters would be putting it mildly. Relegated from the Championship in 2020, promoted as League One Champions under Leam Richardson in 2022, relegated again in 2023 and hit with an eight-point deduction at the start of last season for a failure to pay staff on time.
Their final season in the Championship saw them go through three different managers, with Richardson and then Kolo Toure dismissed before the Latics turned to former player, Shaun Maloney in January 2023.
Maloney was an FA Cup winner with Wigan in 2013, famously beating Manchester City in the final at Wembley, and the 41-year-old joined the Club after a short spell in charge of Hibernian in Scotland. Although he was unable to keep Wigan up that season, the Scot has remained in charge at the Brick Community Stadium.
He performed exceptionally well under challenging circumstances last year, quickly eradicating that eight-point deduction to slowly start climbing up the league table.
A strong end to the campaign, with just one defeat in their last eight and wins away at Champions, Portsmouth and play-off chasing Lincoln City, saw them eventually secure a top-half finish with 62 points. If not for that eight-point penalty, Maloney’s men would have finished in 10th, only six points shy of the play-off spots.
A busy transfer window has allowed Maloney to further put his stamp on this side, but perhaps their best bit of business in the Summer saw them keep hold of one of the division’s outstanding goalkeepers in Sam Tickle.
The goalkeeper has been a key figure for the Latics in recent weeks, keeping five consecutive clean sheets and six in his last seven league games. That form has helped the side recover from a slow start that saw them lose three of their first four games in the league, and they come into this game full of confidence after that convincing win over Peterborough in midweek.
Match Stats:
- Saturday will be the 27th competitive meeting between County and Wigan Athletic. County have won seven of those previous encounters, with Wigan winning 14.
- We are unbeaten in our last six home games against Wigan Athletic, who haven’t won at Edgeley Park since February 1982.
- Kyle Wootton’s goal on Tuesday night was his 30th for the Club in 95 appearances. County have never lost a game in which the big man has found the back of the net for them, winning 19 and drawing three.
