WINTERTON RANGERS VS STOCKTON TOWN PREVIEW
COMPETITION: Pitching In Northern Premier League East Division – Matchday 36
DATE: Saturday 13th April, 2024
KICK-OFF: 15:00pm
ENTRY: £8 Adult, £5 Concession, £1 Juniors
GROUND: MKM Stadium, West Street, Winterton, Scunthorpe, DN15 9QF
LIVE UPDATES: @stockton_townfc – Twitter/X
LIVE COMMENTARY: Anchors FM- Anchors Radio (mixlr.com)
Stockton Town are set to make their first ever trip to the MKM Stadium to face Winterton Rangers in their penultimate away match of the season.
The Anchors secured an important three points last weekend, with a commanding 5-1 victory over Sheffield.
First half goals from Tom Portas, Kevin Hayes, Glen Butterworth and Adam Nicholson gave the Anchors a sizeable lead at the break, with Stephen Thompson cancelling out a Cameron Johnson penalty in the second half.
The gap at the top of the league was however trimmed to eight points in midweek, as Hebburn Town made the most of one of their games in hand.
Next Saturday sees Michael Dunwell’s side face Brighouse Town in their final home game of the season.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Stockton and Winterton met for the first ever time at the MAP Group UK Stadium earlier in the season.
Here is the result from that game:
4 November 2023 – Stockton Town 2-0 Winterton Rangers – Pitching In Northern Premier League East Division
FORM GUIDE
Stockton Town: W D L D W
Last Game: Stockton Town 5-1 Sheffield
Winterton Rangers: L L L W L
Last Game: Pontefract Collieries 3-0 Winterton Rangers
THE OPPOSITION
The Rangers are in the midst of a fight at the wrong end of the table in their debut season in step four. They currently sit bottom of the table, four points away from safety with four games remaining.
The Lincolnshire-based side have won only three games since their visit to the MAP Group UK Stadium in November, but picked up a massively important 5-1 victory over their relegation contenders Brighouse Town only two weeks ago which shows their will to stay up.
After losing the goalscoring prowess of striker Josh Walker to Cleethorpes Town earlier in the season, the Rangers have struggled in front of goal, and are the lowest scorers in the division, averaging less than one goal per game (32 scored in 34 games).
Manager Scott Hellewell joined Assistant Manager and experienced player Paul Grimes on the team sheet regularly as of late in order to help fight in their clubs relegation scrap.
PRE-MATCH QUOTES
Anchors Assistant Manager JD Briggs spoke to Anchors TV ahead of the trip to Winterton Rangers after the delight of last weekend by saying:
“They’re trying to stay in the league. It’s a place we haven’t been to yet but our plan is simple, to go and win the next three games to put the pressure on the chasing teams behind.
“We’ve got to go into the game really confident and really strong.”
Words by Jordan Clarke.
