Stockport County manager Dave Challinor has confessed that a number of players Bristol Rovers ended up signing in the summer transfer window had also been identified by the Hatters ahead of their meeting at the Mem on Tuesday night.
Having won the League Two title last season, Stockport are enjoying an outstanding campaign in League One, their first season at this level since 2010.
A 2-1 victory at home to Barnsley on Saturday saw the Greater Manchester side climb up to fourth place in the third tier table having recorded their fifth consecutive league victory.
Meanwhile, the Gas are currently 19th and in need of another home win to ease pressure at the bottom end of the table after Northampton Town, Burton Albion, Shrewsbury Town and Cambridge United all picked up results over the weekend.
However, Challinor has drawn similarities between the recruitment of both teams going into tomorrow’s clash, saying to Stockport’s club media: “They obviously went a little bit younger in the summer window with their recruitment. Not too dissimilar to ours really. A lot of players that they’d signed were players that we’d spoken about and were interested in so we went in a similar dynamic around recruitment.
“Obviously ended up having a bit of a mixed start and changed their manager for a manager with slightly different ideas around how they go about it. So they are different from when we played them earlier in the season.”
Rovers were beaten 2-0 in the reverse fixture at Edgeley Park back in August but weren’t without their chances that afternoon.
That defeat was the first in League One of the season with the subsequent five-and-a-half months offering limited moments to shout about for Gasheads.
However, there is renewed optimism in and around BS7 after the Gas returned to winning ways last time out with a comfortable 3-1 victory over fellow relegation-threatened side Peterborough United at the Mem.
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That win was a third in five league outings with progress certainly evident under Inigo Calderon who has only been at the club for just over a month.
While Stockport were last in action on Saturday and will have to make the long journey south for tomorrow night’s game, Rovers will have had nine days without a game after seeing their trip to Wycombe Wanderers rearranged following the Chairboys’ involvement in the FA Cup fourth round.
“It’s obviously a tough place to go on a Tuesday night,” Challinor declared. “Long travel but a real big prize at the end for us.
“We’ll do our stuff on them and recover and prepare and go there looking to carry on this run.
“Again, the dynamic around them not playing and us having a tough game today, you have to see what that looks like. Maybe we’ll have to mix things up a bit.”