It’s arguably the premier game in the EFL on Tuesday as Stockport County host Crewe Alexandra in a top of the table clash.
First host third in a game which has sever implications on both the fight for the title as well for the automatic promotion spots.
Both Stockport and Crewe come into this one on the back of a win over the weekend, and they’ll be looking to continue their winning momentum on Tuesday night. The Hatters rather impressively put their game against Grimsby to bed in the first half, going 3-0 up within the first 30 minutes prior to Abo Eisa getting a second half consolation goal for their opponents.
Crewe, although maybe not as impressively, still managed to pick up all three point at the weekend and would keep a clean sheet in the process as they’d beat a tough Crawley side 1-0.
Stockport are very much in the driving seat at the minute with a four point gap at the top of the table to second-placed Mansfield Town and a seven point gap to the Railwaymen in third. Crewe will however be looking to close that gap down to four points on Tuesday in what looks like a six-pointer at the top of the table. They may indeed fancy their chances and have been playing some good football of late, but they will also know that their opponents are a very tough side to break down.
Two of The Real EFL’s writing team give their opinion on how the game will play out…
“This looks to be the pick of the midweek games and rightly so given the positions in the table of the two sides. It’s not really a game that either will want to lose and both could be rather happy with a draw. For Stockport they’ll know that a point will still keep a good gap to Crewe whereas the away side will probably be happy with a point on the road.
The real winners of the tie will be Mansfield who currently sit second in the league and will see at least one of the two teams around them drop points. I actually think both will drop points but it should be a game filled with goals with the highest scoring and third highest scoring teams in the league taking one another on. They should cancel out and a draw looks the likeliest option, a result that both teams will probably be happy with.”
Stockport County 2-2 Crewe Alexandra
“Over the last month, Stockport have been able to show that any fears for their title challenge were unnecessary. Three wins from their last four and twelve goals scored in that time, point to the fact they continue to fire on all cylinders. The way they have been able to beat a range of opposition throughout the whole year has been mightily impressive, and their thumping victories over opposition such as Doncaster Rovers and Sutton United illustrate just how clinical the side can be when they need to.
One of the sides that they were able to dispatch of during their impressive winning run earlier in the season was Crewe, who were unbeaten at home at the time. Although that home form did of course waiver as the season went on, it remains impressive, with the Mornflake Stadium having the fourth-best record in the league for the home side. Their recent consistency in the division, five wins from their seven games in 2024, sees the side sit in the automatic promotion places going into the final 15 games of the season. This is a real battle between two clubs with clear promotion aspirations, but Stockport’s recent ability to shrug off their potential title capitulation over December should see them brush Crewe aside, in a similar manner to the reverse fixture.”
Stockport County 2-0 Crewe Alexandra
