I think it’s arguable that Plymouth Argyle have had their best start to a season in living memory. Sure, that’s only on the basis of one game, but what a game it was.
Argyle beat local rivals Exeter City 2-0. Both goals came in second half stoppage time, with the first scored by an Exeter academy graduate who had faced abuse from the visiting supporters all game. Delicious. Carabao Cup or not, a win in those circumstances is always welcome.
The Pilgrims beat Exeter 3-0 in their first home league game of the 2014/15 season. However, for an opening day game of any kind, you’d need to go back to 1997 for the last time Argyle had anything like a local derby on opening day. There, Mick Jones’ Greens could only manage a 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers, and by the end of the season Argyle were relegated from the third tier by a single point.
In short, Monday night was historically great. It acts as the perfect preparation for Saturday afternoon, when Argyle’s 2026/27 League One campaign gets underway. That comes with the visit of Stockport County, a side who agonisingly missed out on promotion to the Championship last season, and are now under new management after losing the play-off final to Bolton Wanderers.
Both sides are looking to build on a 2025/26 season in which they faced bitter disappointment on the final day. Can Argyle continue their flying start to this campaign, or will Stockport stop them in their tracks?
Style of play
As I mentioned, Stockport have been through a change of management since the end of last season. After a highly successful spell lasting just under five years, Dave Challinor departed by mutual consent after last season’s defeat at Wembley. He’s yet to find a new club. Stockport have hired Dominic West’s character in The Wire Jimmy McNulty as their new head coach, after he led Rochdale to a dramatic promotion from the National League.
I’m curious to see how much of Stockport’s style carries over between managers. As always in these circumstances, I expect some elements to remain, whilst others gradually change as the new man begins to leave his mark on the team.
Evidence from the Hatters’ League Cup tie with Doncaster Rovers would suggest McNulty is set to switch back; he deployed a 3-4-2-1.
One particular area of interest is the formation. Challinor generally lined up with a back three. In theory, given McNulty exclusively did the same to win promotion with Rochdale, he’d be perfect for continuity. However, Challinor switched to a back four at the back end of the campaign, including for the entirety of the play-offs. Evidence from the Hatters’ League Cup tie with Doncaster Rovers would suggest McNulty is set to switch back; he deployed a 3-4-2-1.
A key curiosity of mine is how Stockport’s passing operates this year. They had the fourth-highest average possession figure in League One last season (55.3%), but they were also happy to go direct when necessary. No other side in the league completed more long passes, and they have many players who are comfortable spraying the ball across the park.
Chief among them is captain Ollie Norwood, who is sure to line up as one of the deep midfielders this weekend. I’m keen to see if his role will remain the same this season, given the new management and the fact he’s likely to line up a little more alongside Lewis Bate, who had an injury-disturbed 2025/26. Given Stockport had 73% of the ball against Doncaster, the early indications suggest they’ll be more inclined to keep it short and control games where they can.
In previous Stockport teams, the attacking midfielders and wingers were less likely to create opportunities for themselves, but positioned more to set up chances for the central striker. I suspect that’ll continue, with two of Jack Diamond, Harry Wood, Jason Adigun and Lewis Fiorini in those roles. Up front, last season’s top scorer Kyle Wootton is likely to get the nod again, with Adama Sidibeh supposedly injured and Mikael Mandron only recently signed. Wootton, of course, scored at both ends in this fixture last season.
In defence, the centre backs will be expected to be comfortable with the ball. I believe they all are. Ethan Pye played every possible minute in the league last season, so he’ll surely start again on Saturday. The most likely pair to join him at the back are Eoghan O’Connell and Kyron Gordon, signed over the summer from Barnsley and Rochdale respectively.
Another player to follow McNulty from Rochdale is goalkeeper Oliver Whatmuff (no, really). I suspect he’ll start this weekend, particularly given the alternative option is Luca Ashby-Hammond.
That just leaves the wing backs, where there are a few selection issues. Most notably, Josh Dacres-Cogley is suspended after being sent off in the play-off final. That means Tayo Edun is highly likely to start on the right, with two Ryans – Glover and Rydel – seemingly in a direct fight to play on the left.
Whoever gets the nod, expect the wing backs to invert when necessary to help create overloads against Argyle’s midfield. It’s part of what can be a particularly fluid system at times. Argyle’s key advantage may be that McNulty hasn’t had long to perfect his style on the training ground.
Strengths
For many, I think Wootton is the most obvious place to start. He led Stockport’s ranks in several attacking metrics last season, most notably goals. In fact, Dom Ballard of Leyton Orient was the only player to score more goals than Wootton in League One last season. He’s recently moved on to join Lorent Tolaj at Bristol City in another seven-figure deal.
Wootton is such a complete player. His shooting is one of his key strengths; last season his league xG came in at 13.88, but his post-shot xG figure outperformed that at 16.71, a sign of quality finishing. Impressively and entertainingly, he’s also able to fill in as an emergency centre back when required. Stockport probably turned to him after investigating his aerial duel success rate. At 61.9%, it was higher than any other League One striker last season.
Argyle are one of Wootton’s favourite opponents. He has scored four goals in as many games against the Pilgrims across his career, only scoring more against Chesterfield and Sutton United. He’s played significantly more games against both those sides.
One of Wootton’s goals against Argyle came for Scunthorpe United during the final game of the 2018/19 season. It’s a match best remembered for Scunthorpe’s other goal that day, scored by Josh Morris.
And, as much as we can happily joke about Wootton scoring at both ends last season, he’s also scored much more significant goals against Argyle. It was he who scored both Stockport goals, including a late headed winner, when these sides last met at Edgeley Park in January.
Plenty to fear from Wootton, then. However, I believe there’s a reasonable argument that he isn’t even Stockport’s best player. For my money, that title goes to midfielder Ollie Norwood.
Norwood is now 35. Though it may seem a lazy point given their comparable ages, it’s clear that he plays a Barry Bannan-style role in this Stockport side. Norwood is the playmaker in the ranks. Whilst Stockport have several players comfortable spraying passes around the pitch, Norwood is the expert.
Last season, the former Sheffield United man completed an average of 7.23 long passes per 90. That was comfortably the highest figure in the league. Lee Evans of Bradford City, second on that particular list, managed an average of 5.67 per 90.
No League One player created more big chances than Norwood, whilst his total of 93 key passes was also the highest in the division.
Norwood is a key creative force, and last year stood out in several relevant metrics. Only three players in the league got more assists than Norwood’s 11, whilst Wigan Athletic’s Fraser Murray was the only player to top his expected assists figure of 10.65. Additionally, no League One player created more big chances than Norwood, whilst his total of 93 key passes was also the highest in the division.
He also plays a key role in one of Stockport’s more general team strengths: crossing. Last season, only Bolton (5.7) made more successful crosses per game than Stockport’s 5.3. Several players will contribute. Naturally, Norwood has a good delivery and is a threat from set pieces, but the two attacking midfielders will also be expected to cross. And, whilst they will invert at times, both wing backs will of course find themselves in positions to put in occasional deliveries.
I expect Argyle’s box to be peppered with crosses throughout the game. If Mathias Ross is indeed fit to start, he and Alex Mitchell will need to be on song from the first minute.
Weaknesses
We need to start with the upheaval in Stockport’s ranks. Challinor’s departure shouldn’t be seen as a standard part of the managerial merry-go-round.
As I alluded to earlier, he spent the best part of five years at the club having initially joined them in the National League. He oversaw two promotions, including their first league title since 1967, and was a game away from securing a third. His exit should be seen less as the end of a spell and more as the end of an era.
Tthe struggles of Alex Ferguson’s successors at Manchester United show how difficult a task this can be, particularly when the departed manager remains out of work.
McNulty faces a difficult task to restart the forward momentum, particularly with such a successful predecessor. It’s clearly not nearly to the same level in terms of standard or length of tenure, but the struggles of Alex Ferguson’s successors at Manchester United show how difficult a task this can be, particularly when the departed manager remains out of work.
In the long term, I believe McNulty has the ability to succeed. He’s certainly got experience of dragging his players through adversity and towards success. Last year it looked as though Rochdale’s promotion dreams had been crushed on several occasions, but they managed to pull through. McNulty has the talent, but it’s a difficult thing to do from the off, and this game falling on opening day could aid Argyle.
McNulty’s job is made even harder by the fact there has been significant change on the pitch as well as on the sidelines. By my reckoning, Stockport are one of only five League One clubs to have a double-figure total for incomings this summer, and one of just two – alongside Leyton Orient – to have been in this league last season. Their list of outgoings is similar.
| Incomings | Outgoings |
| Mikael Mandron | Jayden Fevrier |
| Luca-Ashby Hammond | Jid Okeke |
| Ben Osborn | Max Metcalfe |
| Kyron Gordon | Callum Connolly |
| Eoghan O’Connell | Odin Bailey |
| Oliver Whatmuff (loan) | Christy Grogan |
| Tom Wilson-Brown | Joseph Oluwu |
| Harry Wood | Corey Addai (loan) |
| Jason Adigun | Ben Hinchcliffe |
| Ryan Glover |
If I’m to identify a potentially weak area of the pitch, I’d look at the goalkeeping department. That’s not because Whatmuff is poor – frankly I don’t know enough about him to judge either way – but because Stockport have had to replace their entire goalkeeping department this summer.
Yes, Argyle have done the same, but their new first-choice ‘keeper is a player who has already made 91 EFL appearances. Whatmuff, albeit a Manchester City loanee, has never played above National League level.
I wasn’t particularly enamoured by any of Stockport’s goalkeeping options last year, and it doesn’t surprise me that they’ve all moved on. Corey Addai has been loaned to Burton Albion, Max Metcalfe was released, and Ben Hinchcliffe has retired and is now a goalkeeping coach at the club. Whatmuff may mark a clear improvement, but he’s only 18 and the trip to Home Park will be his first real test at this level. “Get shots away early” would probably be my message.
Finally, I think it’s worth pointing out that Stockport weren’t the most well-behaved last season when it comes to discipline. I know that’s rich coming from a fan of Argyle, the League One side to pick up more cards than any other. However, Blackpool and Wigan were the only teams in the league to have more players sent off than Stockport across 2025/26.
Argyle played against opponents reduced to ten men on the opening day last season, when Jack Shepherd was sent off for Barnsley. I wouldn’t bet against something similar happening this weekend.
Prediction
There are never any guarantees in football, and that’s particularly true on opening day.
Stockport are a good side, and they clearly have players in their ranks who would get into most teams (if not any) at this level. I definitely think they’ll be dangerous – both teams scored on both occasions these sides met last season, and my suspicion is we’re likely to see that happening again.
Given the momentum heading into the game and the lack of upheaval in their ranks compared to their opponents, I’ll back Argyle to get the job done.
Plymouth Argyle 2-1 Stockport County
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