Written By Lee Pasquariello in the afternoon of 16/02/2026

Dominating Peterborough on Saturday was the statement we needed to make after a tough time, but it was the warm up for a massive promotion contest tomorrow evening against Stockport at Valley Parade. After a massive performance, that saw City have 29 shots, the belief is well and truly back.   

Tomorrow is the biggest test for that belief though, as I’ve felt all season that Stockport are a quality team that will be up there come the end. If we want to turn our own playoff ambitions into a reality, these are exactly the kind of games you want to win. 

The timing of Max Power’s suspension is a massive loss. Picking up 10 bookings and missing a game of this importance leaves a huge leadership void throughout the squad. Power is crucial to this team because of his ability to keep everyone organised and he controls the game well in the midfield.  

For me, new signing Lee Evans is the one to replace Power and pair Jenson Metcalfe in the midfield. Evans has plenty of top end League One and Championship experience which could be key for a game like this. He’s also a capable winner, but losing the leadership of our captain will be a huge test for this team. Hopefully though, the midfield can manage the pressure well despite his absence. 

Because of the leadership void, questions can be asked about who exactly will take the armband for tomorrow night’s game. It’s actually a bit unknown right now, but I think it will be out of three candidates. Sam Walker is a possibility because he’s a massive influence in the dressing room. Curtis Tilt because of his defensive authority, combined with his experience as a captain at other clubs before, but my pick would be Antoni Sarcevic.  

I say this because he is the only other player who has captained the side this season. He filled in for Power for his 5 yellow card suspension, which was the 2-2 draw against Rotherham back in early October. I think leading the team out against one of his former clubs as well will be a great opportunity for him, and his experience and authority as well as his ability will be needed tomorrow. 

Just like I wrote about on Saturday evening, Valley Parade now is a place opposition teams should truly dread coming to. The atmosphere tomorrow will be massive, as the attendance will be higher tomorrow due to the club putting on discounted tickets. Ultimately though, it will only work if the performance on the pitch gives the fans something to cheer about. 

I don’t think Stockport will be rattled easily though as they currently sit 4^th at the time of writing this, just 1 point above City. However if we can play like we did on Saturday, on the front foot with high press, then there’s no reason why we can’t go above them in the table and set out a massive statement to the rest of the league. 

This isn’t just any game at Valley Parade, it’s a crucial one. We have to be realistic, we are ten points behind 2^nd placed Lincoln, so catching them is a massive task right now. A win tomorrow though would do our playoff chances the world of good, and it will keep the pressure on the other teams around us. 

City’s schedule after today looks much better than it has with the last month or so. Stockport are actually the last team in the current top 6 that we play until April, when we play Bolton at home. It means that the rest of our fixtures will be against teams that are lower than us at this point, so hopefully we will get the three points tomorrow, and put a run together to keep our promotion aims on track.