MORPETH TOWN VS STOCKTON TOWN PREVIEW
COMPETITION: Pitching In Northern Premier League Premier Division – Matchday 4
DATE: Tuesday 20 August, 2024
KICK-OFF: 19:45
ENTRY: £10 Adult, £6 Concessions, £3 under-16’s
GROUND: Craik Park, Pegswood, Morpeth, NE61 2YX
LIVE UPDATES: @stockton_townfc – Twitter/X
LIVE COMMENTARY: Anchors Radio (mixlr.com)
Stockton Town make the short trip up to Northumberland to face Morpeth Town as the Anchors look to extend their perfect start to the 2024/25 season.
After a perfect opening week, Stockton Town find themselves top of the standings with three wins from their opening three games following Saturday’s hard-fought victory over Prescot Cables.
An own-goal and a volley from Stephen Thompson gave Michael Dunwell’s side a 2-0 lead in the first half, but Prescot soon erased that lead in the second half.
Cameron Painter was on hand to fire home a winner for Stockton in the 73rd minute to put Stockton on nine points, level with Macclesfield and Hebburn Town.
THE OPPOSITION
The Highwaymen are now in their fourth season in the Premier Division, following their immediate promotion from the East Division in 2019.
The 2016 FA Vase winners have had a polar opposite start to that of the Anchors. Craig Lynch’s side currently have zero points their name following three difficult opening games.
Their current league position however doesn’t reflect the talent in their squad. After managing to bring back two key players from last season’s squad, ex-Middlesbrough prodigy Fenton John and former Anchor loanee Sam Hodgson – who tallied 18 goals during his loan spell last season, they have an attack to be frightful of.
The Northumberland-based side also unveiled a large number of talented new additions in summer such as midfielder Jordan Hickey, winger Luke James and 6-foot-7 goalkeeper Dan Langley.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
The two sides have met frequently during their overlapping times in the Northern League, cup competitions and Pre-Season friendlies, but in their eight previous encounters, the clubs haven’t faced off competitively since 2018. Here are the last five meetings between them:
19 Apr 2018 – Morpeth Town 2-3 Stockton Town – Brooks Mileson Memorial League Cup Quarter-Final
15 Aug 2020 – Stockton Town 0-2 Morpeth Town – Pre-Season Friendly
21 Jul 2021 – Stockton Town 1-3 Morpeth Town – Pre-Season Friendly
30 Jul 2022 – Morpeth Town 2-0 Stockton Town – Pre-Season Friendly
25 Jul 2023 – Morpeth Town 4-3 Stockton Town – Pre-Season Friendly
FORM GUIDE
Stockton Town: W W W
Last Game: Stockton Town 3-2 Prescot Cables
Morpeth Town: L L L
Last Game: Basford United 4-0 Morpeth Town
PRE-MATCH QUOTES
Anchors’ assistant manager JD Briggs looked ahead to Tuesday’s game following the delight of Saturday’s win by saying:
“It’s set for us to do it properly where we can. If we take it easy just because we’ve won three and they’ve lost three, they’ll be set and ready to get their first points on the board.
“We want to make it four out of four and we need to approach the game in the right manner and make sure we do things correctly.”
Full-back Joshua Baggs also looked ahead to the fixture by saying:
“We’re excited. Every game is a tough game in this league, away from home we’ve got to stick it out. If we play the same way we have, especially in the first two games, alongside the togetherness we’ve shown today [Saturday] then I’m sure we’ll do alright.”
Words by Jordan Clarke
