Town have the opportunity for an immediate response tomorrow evening after going down to a 3-0 defeat on Saturday against Crewe Alexandra.
And it is an early break from league action as Simon Weaver's side welcome Stockport County in the first round of the Carabao Cup.Buy Tickets
Our opponents
It is County's first foray into this competition for over a decade after they returned to the EFL following their National League title winning season in 2021/22.
After loading up on talent to mount their promotion charge, adding the likes of Paddy Madden, Ollie Crankshaw, Scott Quigley and Antoni Sarcevic they further bolstered their ranks in the summer, looking to make an immediate impact back in the Football League.
Despite being many people's favourites for promotion, Stockport have fallen to a pair of defeats at the hands firstly of Barrow and then in the last minute at Stevenage this past weekend.
The man in charge
Dave Challinor is the man in charge at Edgeley Park, having left Hartlepool early last season after taking them into the EFL, securing promotion at the first attempt.
He will be a familiar face to Town fans having previously squared off against the club during his spell in the dugout at AFC Fylde, where he earned three promotions to take them into the National League.
After leaving the club in October 2019, he was appointed manager of Hartlepool a month later and guided them back into the EFL via the playoffs that season.
Challinor was also a former County player, spending two seasons there after starting his career at Tranmere. He later moved on to Bury where he finished his league career after almost 400 appearances.
Ones to watch
The Town defence will need to be wary of Paddy Madden, who dropped down two divisions from Fleetwood Town to join the club, and his 25 goals proved to be a key factor in County's promotion.
There is plenty of attacking talent available to Challinor's, with the likes of Ollie Crankshaw, Scott Quigley and Kyle Wootton all at his disposal, with new boy Wootton getting the early season minutes.
Former Bolton man Antoni Sarcevic has proven a key part of the midfield since his arrival, with another summer addition, Callum Camps, featuring in both games so far.
At the back, the club bolstered their defence by adding former Northampton-man Fraser Horsfeld.
History
Whilst the club were first formed back in 1883, they have been known as Stockport County since 1890 and joined the Football League ten years later.
In the post-war period the club would spend life in the bottom two divisions, earning a number of promotions but being unable to remain in the third tier for any sustained period.
The turning point in their fortunes came with appointment of Danny Bergara in 1989, with the Uruguayan earning a first promotion in the 1990/91 season as well as leading the Hatters to multiple Wembley trips.
The 1990's would undoubtedly become the club's most successful period, featuring in the old first division for five seasons as well as the League Cup semi-finals in 1996/97.
Dave Jones took over in 1995 and took the club into the second tier following promotion in 1996/97, before departing for Southampton and being replaced by Gary Megson – who led the side to a best-ever eighth placed finish in his first season.
The club fell back through the divisions in the early 2000's though, before dropping out of the Football League altogether in 2010/11, and a further relegation to National League North was experienced in 2012/13.
2018/19 saw the club return to the fifth tier before last season's title win capped a return back to the EFL.
Team news
Simon Weaver remains without defenders Rory McArdle and Will Smith as well as Josh Falkingham and Max Wright as they continue their recovery from injuries that saw them miss the beginning of the campaign, though Town's Manager was hopeful of having Tyler Frost back at his disposal after missing the weekend's trip to Crewe.