Stockport County boss Dave Challinor looks ahead to Preston North End friendly clash

Stockport County boss Dave Challinor has hinted his side will take some risks against Preston North End this weekend. The Lilywhites head to Edgeley Park on Saturday afternoon for their final pre-season friendly of the summer before the Championship gets underway.

The Hatters will aim to play on the front foot against Ryan Lowe’s side as they gear up for the start of the new League Two season. They were beaten in the play-off final last term to Carlisle United at Wembley.

Preston will hope that Stockport can provide them with a tough test as they continue to get their players up to speed. They head to Ashton Gate to take on Bristol City next Saturday to kick-start the 2023/24 campaign.

Challinor has had this to say ahead of his side’s clash against the Lilywhites to his club’s YouTube channel: “(Getting) Minutes is the most important thing. The ideal case for us would be to build into the weekend with the ability for everybody to play 90 minutes and have 20 outfield players who are fit and available. At that point, we would be strong and match certain areas of what we’re coming up against. Unfortunately, that is not the case with some injuries that we have got.

“One thing we won’t do is risk anyone in those games that have any type of injury or knock. Ultimately the results aren’t the most important thing. We still want to compete and be committed to what we’re going to do. Friendlies are a little bit different because you can try things out knowing the consequences aren’t what they would be in a league game. We’ll go about it in different ways.

“Although we’re playing against Championship opposition, we still want to try and be on the front foot. That will mean we will get played around at times because we’re coming up against better players that we would usually week in, week out.”

Stockport will be without injured trio Will Collar, Kyle Wootton and Jack Stretton for the visit of Preston. They have made some signings this summer such as Nick Powell, Ibou Touray, Jordan Smith, Jayden Richardson, Billy Chadwick and Louie Barry to bolster their squad.

Former Lilywhites player Ryan Croasdale remains on the books of the North West outfit and could feature against his former club. He rose up through the youth ranks at Deepdale.