STOCKTON TOWN VS SHILDON PREVIEW
COMPETITION: Durham Challenge Cup – Second Round
DATE: Wednesday 6 November, 2024
KICK-OFF: 19:45
ENTRY: £7 Adult, £5 Concessions, £3 11-18-year-olds, £3 under-11’s
GROUND: Stockton Town FC, MAP Group UK Stadium, Bishopton Road West, Stockton-on-Tees, TS19 0QD
LIVE UPDATES: @stockton_townfc – Twitter/X
Stockton Town are set to welcome Northern League Division One side Shildon to the MAP Group UK Stadium in the Durham Challenge Cup.
The Anchors’ incredible run continued on Saturday afternoon after grinding out a 1-0 victory over Matlock Town, thanks to Josh Scott’s sixth goal in as many games.
That win makes it eight on the bounce, with two more home games awaiting us, following Shildon’s visit, Ashton United make the trip to Teesside on Saturday in league action.
The Anchors reached this round with a 3-1 victory over Crook Town last month, whilst the Railwaymen defeated Silksworth CW, 4-1.
THE OPPOSITION
Shildon are in their second season back in the Northern League, following relegation from the Northern Premier League East Division in the 2022/23 season. They currently find themselves in 6th position.
The Railwaymen suffered heartbreak in the playoffs at the end of the last season, when a 90th goal from none other than Josh Scott helped West Auckland to a 1-0 victory in the semi-finals.
Ex-Sunderland winger Nathan Greenwood is the man to watch for Chris Hughes’ side. He was recently voted as player of the month for Shildon, and has started his debut season in Red very strongly.
Forward Andrei-Vasile Ardelean is also a danger man for the Railwaymen. He already has 9 league goals to his name this season, and will look to cause more problems in front of goal alongside Billy Greulish-Smith, a long-term Shildon player who has always threatened in games against the Anchors.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Since the two sides’ first meeting back in 2017, the teams have faced off on 14 occasions across a number of different competitions, with both clubs getting their fair share of wins in those matchups. Here are the results from the recent five meetings:
2 Jan 2023: Shildon 0-3 Stockton Town – NPL East Division
29 Aug 2022: Stockton Town 2-1 Shildon – NPL East Division
1 Jan 2022: Stockton Town 1-0 Shildon – NPL East Division
30 Aug 2021: Shildon 0-0 Stockton Town – NPL East Division
19 Dec 2020: Stockton Town 1-3 Shildon – Isuzu FA Vase
FORM GUIDE
Stockton Town: W W W W W
Last Game: Stockton Town 1-0 Matlock Town
Shildon: W W W L W
Last Game: Penrith 2-3 Shildon
PRE-MATCH QUOTES
Following the weekend’s victory over Matlock Town, Anchors’ manager Michael Dunwell spoke ahead of the fixture by saying:
“We have some players who need minutes in their legs such as Shane [Henry] and Lewis Leech possibly, Mikey didn’t play through injury so he’ll probably play and more minutes for Kev too, but we’re not going to make too many changes because like I’ve said previously, it’s a competition that we want to get far in and get to the final in, which we’ve failed to do in previous years.”
“I think out of all the cup competitions, it’s probably a competition that is realistic to get to the final in, so it’ll be a strong team that we put out and we can’t take Shildon lightly. It’s a local derby and we want to progress to the next round, so it’ll be a strong team.”
Words by Jordan Clarke
