PREVIEW: Loughborough Students (H)
Where:
The Stotto Stadium, Farley Way, Quorn LE12 8RB
When:
Tuesday 15th of October 2024 (19:45 KO)
We play back-to-back home games for the first time this season as, hot on the heels of a thrilling last gasp win against AFC Rushden & Diamonds, we welcome our closest rivals, Loughborough Students, to The Stotto Stadium.
Quorn’s Form:
We’re now ten games into the league season, and the Reds are well placed in the league, sitting second, a point behind Corby Town, but with two games in hand. The resilient Reds have won eight and drawn two so far this season, picking up six points last week with a superb 2-0 win at Corby Town on Wednesday, and then the thrilling 2-1 win at home to Rushden on Saturday as Kobe Hall struck twice at the death.
Our other home games have seen a 5-1 win at home to Sutton Coldfield Town on opening day, a 0-0 draw versus Anstey Nomads on Bank Holiday Monday and a 5-0 thumping of Grantham Town. Away from home we’ve seen a 1-1 draw at Long Eaton United, a 2-0 win at Racing Club Warwick, a 4-1 win at Worcester City and them three straight cleansheets vs Lye Town (2-0), Boldmere St. Michaels (1-0) and Corby Town (2-0).
Loughborough Student’s Form:
The Scholars have had a mixed start to life at step four so far, winning through two rounds of the FA Cup and beating Sheffield in the FA Trophy twice, after having to replay the match due to a paperwork error. Those good returns in the cup competitions mean that this is the third attempt to play this match due to previous postponements.
Things haven’t gone quite so well in the league with just three wins to their name so far, all of them coming at home against teams in the relegation places (Grantham Town 2-0, Rugby Town 5-1 and Shepshed Dynamo 2-1). They’ve also lost three at home against the playoff contenders (Worcester City 3-1, Boldmere St. Michaels 2-0 and Darlaston Town 3-0).
Away from the University Stadium results have been harder to come by, picking up two draws and three defeats so far, including a 0-0 draw away to Racing Club Warwick at the weekend. There was also a creditable 1-1 draw away to Corby Town at the start of October, but the other results have seen defeats at Coleshill Town (2-1), AFC Rushden and Diamonds (5-3) and Sutton Coldfield Town (2-1). Four points from the last six will see the Students building confidence and arriving at The Stotto Stadium with belief that they can push on from here.
One to Watch:
Both of Loughborough’s top scorers have five goals each. Joshua Strouts has reached the total playing in 16 of the Students’ fixtures to this point, Quinton Zolani Dlodlo has scored his five in just 12 matches and includes a hat-trick against Rugby Town last month, in fact, both players scored in that Tuesday night match but haven’t scored since.
Last Time:
Two seasons ago just a point separated the two sides as we pipped the Scholars to the playoff place, despite the University side doing the double over us that season. The final meeting came at Farley Way in mid-March 2023, with the Students prevailing 3-2.
Reece Fyfe opened the scoring in the 7th minute but the students were on level terms before half time thanks to William Mycroft-Edwards’ 35th minute strike. Fin Brennan added a second just after the hour mark and Max Smallcombe added the third in the 73rd minute. Steve hart pulled one back with fifteen minutes to play, but the students on for a big three points.
Four of the starting eleven that day are in line to figure against the Scholars on Tuesday with Silvio Bello, Jack Samples, Paddy Webb and Captain Fyfe regular starters. Jordan Clarke also came off the bench that day and has returned to the side. Loughborough followed our lead and won promotion through the playoffs the following season. None of the 14 players that featured in that last meeting for the University have figured this season.
Tickets:
Adults £10.00, Concessions £8.00, U16s £2.00, Under 14s Free