STOCKTON TOWN VS BISHOP AUCKLAND PREVIEW
COMPETITION: Pre-Season Friendly
DATE: Tuesday 22nd July, 2025
KICK-OFF: 7:45pm
ENTRY: £7 Adults, £4 concessions & U18s, £3 U11s
GROUND: MAP Group UK Stadium, Bishopton Road West, Stockton-on-Tees, TS19 0QD
UPDATES: @stockton_townfc Twitter/X
Stockton Town’s Pre-Season preparations continue with the visit of Bishop Auckland.
In a game played in testing conditions, Stockton were comfortably beaten 4-1 by Darlington on Saturday. First-half goals from Cedric Main and Aidan Rutledge put the Quakers in command. Arjun Purewal pulled a goal back with a header, but a Will Hatfield free-kick restored the three-goal advantage.
The Opposition
Following a mid-table finish in their return to the NPL, Bishop Auckland have made serious moves in the market to turn themselves into contenders.
From a Stockton perspective, Michael Fowler and Mikey Roberts are the immediate standouts. There’s also a Hebburn duo in midfield, Paul Van Zandvliet and Robbie Spence. A trio from Newton Aycliffe has also joined: Liam Jarvie, Aaron Brown, and Dean Thexton, with the latter two making a return to Heritage Park.
The Two Blues have played four pre-season games. They started with a comfortable 6-0 win at Darlington Town, followed by a 2-1 victory at Redcar Town. They suffered their first defeat in a 3-1 loss at Spennymoor, but bounced back with a 1-0 win in their latest outing at Northallerton Town.
Pre-Match Quotes
Looking ahead to the game, Michael Dunwell said, “We want to be better on the ball than we were today (defeat to Darlington). We just didn’t keep the ball as well as we normally do and forced a lot of balls. I thought our touch was really poor, especially in the first half; it was bouncing off us. Normally, we’re a lot better. Sometimes that happens in Pre-season. We just need to cut those mistakes out and get ready for that first game of the season.”
