After a thrilling 3-2 victory against Ashton Town Reserves last weekend, Stretford Paddock finally are back to winning ways. An opportunity arises this weekend to build on their recent victory whilst facing St Michaels DH – a side who, like Paddock, still have a real chance of achieving promotion this season.
Opponent Watch
St Michaels DH currently sit just 5 points off of the promotion spots but with an attractive 4 games in hand on their closest rivals, Bollington Town. A win against Paddock on Saturday would not only make them favourites to achieve promotion, but would also see them achieving back to back wins in the Cheshire League.
As Paddock know well, momentum is key and both sides this weekend are desperate for momentum to end their seasons in the most positive manner possible.
St Michaels have two men on double figures this season. Forwards Paul Derbyshire and Dominic Brereton have 15 and 12 goals respectively. Derbyshire is currently the division’s 3rd top goalscorer. Having conceded 2 goals last weekend against much lesser opponents, Paddock are going to have to up their game even further to deal with the home side’s attacking prowess and get a result on Saturday.
Situational Preview
Paddock now sit 9 points away from 3rd spot in the Division – they also still have plenty of games in hand on opponents that sit higher than them in the table. Having won only 2 games in the league since the turn of the year, promotion for Paddock this season does look less likely than more however, never say never.
4 of Paddock’s remaining 7 league games are against teams lower than them in the table. What Paddock must do though is take each game as it comes rather than focus on the bigger picture.
A win for Stretford Paddock would put them only a point behind St Michaels in the table (despite having played 2 more games). It just goes to show how tight things are at the top and how quickly things can change.
Should Newton-Le-Willows fail to win and Paddock collect all three points, they would move up into 6th place – a huge psychological boost for the side. This gives Ste and the boys even more motivation to put right their 5-0 hammering which they recieved from St Michaels earlier this season.
Team News
Though not yet confirmed, it seems likely that Paddock’s new man in goal, Martin Flanagan, will be unavailable again this weekend due to injury. A vital last minute save from Vic Gimenez last weekend would surely give Paddock’s shot stopping expert a spot in the starting line up.
🚨𝗙𝗜𝗫𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦🚨
We take on 𝗦𝗧 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹𝘀 who are in 𝟰𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲. Last time out they beat us 𝟱-𝟬 which we must improve on if we wish to climb the table
📅 Sat 1 Apr
⏲️ 12:30PM
📍 JMO Sports Park, WN8 8BX
🏆 @CheshireFL
🎫 FREE#UpThePaddock pic.twitter.com/j2hV9AG6qX— Stretford Paddock FC (@SPaddockFC) March 31, 2023
