First and foremost, we need to wallow after our impressive 3-0 win at Stalybridge. Please travel to Basford on Saturday to see one of the away form teams, tackle second place Basford.

Please do not look at the fixture cards thinking that Saturday is Whitby at home. The 19th is also FA Cup 4th qualifying round date and while we were knocked out last round by Stourbridge, Whitby are still in the cup and by a strange quirk of fate are playing Stourbridge. The league have instead given us a fixture and have brought forward our away game with Basford from November 30th. So, this Saturday we take the short hop to Nottingham to play Basford.

Our first meeting with Basford this season was on 3rd of September where we started our 5-match unbeaten run, all games drawn. However, that run on Tuesday extended to 6 games as we disposed of Stalybridge to record our first league win of the season. Strangely, Stalybridge were the side we beat for our first 3 points last season.

Being a relatively new club, we have not had many encounters with Basford. Our first ever meeting with Basford was in our Championship season of 2015/16. We came away from Greenwich Avenue with a 1-1 draw and the home game towards the end of the season finished 0-0. We did not meet up again until last season as Basford achieved promotion to the Northern premier league. We won the home fixture 3-1 but a couple of months later Basford ended our short-lived FA Trophy run win with a 4-0 win at their ground. We returned later to gain another draw in the league. This seasons fixture saw us draw 0-0. So, on our travels we have drawn both away league games but lost the cup tie, while at home we have a win and 2 draws.

However, Basford currently lie 2nd with 24 points from their 13 games with a home record of 4 wins a 1 defeat. The defeat came early in the season to Matlock while they have since wrapped up wins over Lancaster, Radcliffe, Stalybridge and Gainsborough. But our away record is quickly gaining pace with a win and 2 draws from our last 3 away games. We now actually possess a better away record than 7 other teams. While 2nd v 18th looks like a banker home win on many betting sites, you can never predict football and we hope to keep our run going. It looks like our luck Is turning as following Sam Coulson’s header at Scarborough hitting the post and coming out, Tuesday night we saw Grayson’s shot hit the post and go in. Basford appear to have used up all their luck as on Tuesday night as Stef Galinski headed a Basford goal from his own half, his clearance bouncing over the FC United keeper.

I hope as many Stafford fans travel as possible to give the team much needed support and remember Basford is one of the very few grounds where you can travel to the game by tram. For rail users the tram stop is upstairs from Nottingham Station and alight at Highbury Vale which is a short walk to the ground. Drivers need to use NG6 0LD to find the ground which has adequate parking.

Games played this century on 29th October

2002 Crawley H 2-1 Southern League
2004 Tamworth H 3-1 Staffs Senior Cup
2013 Coalville A 2-3 F A Trophy