Stockport County will be looking to extend their unbeaten record on the road and cement their place in the National League North play-off spots as they meet Alfreton Town at the Impact Arena on Saturday (KO 15:00).

The Hatters are on a fantastic run away from home, having not lost an away league fixture since a 2-1 defeat at Darlington back in early September.

Jim Gannon’s side moved up to fifth on Saturday as they saw off Stalybridge and will hoping to do the same to another relegation threatened side this weekend.

Alfreton will be playing their first league match under a new manager following Nicky Law’s decision to leave the Reds after nearly a decade in charge of the club.

Law has taken up a youth recruitment role at Premier League Burnley, with trusted assistant Russ O’Neill being promoted to first team coach until the summer.

The two sides last met on the opening day of the season with Gary Stopforth scoring a last-gasp winner to secure a 4-3 win for County.

Alfreton have generally found clean sheets hard to come by since, conceding a mammoth 64 goals so far this season.

However, they did manage to prevent Gainsborough from scoring in a 2-0 victory last weekend.

Winger Danny Lloyd is likely to keep the home defence on their toes this weekend.

The popular scouser has netted an impressive 21 goals in all competitions since his summer move from AFC Fylde.

Stockport will be forced into at least one change as former Carlisle midfielder Courtney Meppen-Walters is ruled out after picking up an injury in Wednesday’s Cheshire Senior cup defeat to Crewe.

Jimmy Ball is likely to replace Meppen-Walters following a goal-scoring cameo from the bench against Stalybridge, with captain Mark Ross also pushing for a start.

Alfreton might have a few familiar faces in their side as former Hatters Paul Marshall and Ryan Wilson should start.

By Joe Canavan

@joecanavan89

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