STOCKTON TOWN VS HEDNESFORD TOWN PREVIEW
COMPETITION: Pitching In Northern Premier League Premier Division – Matchday 24
DATE: Saturday 17th January, 2026
KICK-OFF: 15:00
ENTRY: £13 Adult, £10 Concessions, £6 11-18 year-olds, £4 U11
GROUND: Stockton Town FC, MAP Group UK Stadium, Bishopton Road West, Stockton-on-Tees, TS19 0QD
LIVE UPDATES: @stockton_townfc – Twitter/X
LIVE COMMENTARY: https://anchors-radio.mixlr.com/
After over two weeks out of action, Stockton Town return home to face the league-leading Hednesford Town.
The Anchors have had two straight postponements following victory at Morpeth Town on New Years Day,
Goals either side of the break from Amar Purewal and Jake Petitjean secured three points that day, extending the Anchors’ unbeaten run to six games.
Since then, a trip to FC United of Manchester and a home meeting with Prescot Cables both were bettered by the weather, with those games being moved to the 27th January and 10th February respectively.
Ryan Barrett is available for Saturday’s game, before his loan from Alfreton Town expires on Sunday, but Kevin Hayes will miss out through suspension. Josh Baggs remains out.
THE OPPOSITION
As before-mentioned, Hednesford Town currently sit atop of the Northern Premier League Premier Division standings, in their first season following promotion through the playoffs of the West Division last season.
Gavin Hurren’s side have recorded 45 points through their 24 games, currently placing five points ahead of the Anchors ahead of the test.
Ex-Notts County forward Ahkeem Rose currently leads the squad in goals this season, with eight in the league thus far.
Former Matlock Town talisman Montel Gibson partners Rose, and helped the Pitmen snap a three-game winless run in midweek with a brace against Burton Albion in the County Cup.
EFL veteran Joss Labadie captains the side, alongside a number of talented ex-professionals, including the likes of midfielder Max Sheaf and fullback Chris Hussey to name a handful.
The Pitmen recently announced the signing of St Kitts and Nevis international forward, Omari Sterling-James, who also had stints in the EFL with Cheltenham Town and Mansfield Town during his earlier days. He will make his second league appearance for Hednesford, after coming off the bench in defeat against Rushall Olympic last time out.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Stockton Town and Hednesford Town have met just once in their history, where Josh Scott’s late winner completed a turnaround in Cannock back in October.
28 Oct 2025 – Hednesford Town 1-2 Stockton Town – Northern Premier League Premier Division
FORM GUIDE
Stockton Town: W D W D L
Last match: Workington 0-1 Stockton Town
Hednesford Town: W D D L W
Last match: Hednesford Town 2-1 Burton Albion (County Cup)
VIEW FROM THE OPPOSITION
Speaking after the win over Burton in midweek, manager Gavin Hurren looked ahead to the match by saying:
“We need to take Tuesday’s performance into Saturday’s game, and hopefully we can get a result. It’ll be really tough, Stockton are a strong outfit who finished third last season”.
PRE-MATCH QUOTES
Looking ahead to the fixture, captain Adam Nicholson said:
“I thought the away game was a great experience, their pitch is up there with professional grounds and we managed to get a good result so that made it even sweeter, considering it was the second time we’d travelled there on a Tuesday night!
“They were a top side with some great, dangerous players, especially in the forward areas. They caused us a lot of problems first 20/30 minutes until the sending off, and then we managed to limit them completely and kill the game off in the second half.
“It’s going to be a great game and I’m really looking forward to it”.
