Cambridge United boss Jez George is looking forward to locking horns with Stockport counterpart Didi Hamann when their respective sides clash at Abbey Stadium in the Blue Square Bet Premier on Thursday evening.
George has revealed his admiration for the former Bayern Munich and Liverpool midfielder, but boasts a much healthier team with the U's in ninth place with 22 points from 13 games while County, in 17th, have just 14 points.
Both clubs come into this match on the back of a loss but George's charges had not lost in their previous eight matches with five wins and three draws, with Hamman's troops having lost their last two after four draws, one win and one loss.
George told Cambridge News: "It's an interesting one because his experience comes from the Barclays Premier League and mine comes from the Ridgeons Premier Division.
"He has played at the highest level and had a fantastic career and as someone whose team I've been known to watch, I've got a huge amount of respect for him.
"I'm sure he'll have an illustrious career as a manager and I have respect for him for cutting his teeth at this level unlike a lot of players who want to go and manage at the top straight away.
"From seeing Stockport play a couple of times, they're quite a strong outfit. He has got them well organised.
"The front two are big and powerful and they'll pose a similar threat to Darlington where we'll have to be patient and be good enough to break them down.
"But we'll also have to defend properly because if you concede the first goal, there are a lot of teams capable of making life difficult for you as we found on Saturday."
Adam Marriott returns to the side, meaning that Luke Berry will return to his usual midfield role with Tom Shaw suspended. Ryan Charles is sidelined (hip and groin while Ashley Carew (knee) and Harrison Dunk (ankle) will be given late fitness tests. Blaine Hudson and Jonathon Thorpe look set to return to the squad following leg injuries.
Hamann, meanwhile, has had to play down talk of relegation but admits he need to a formula that works for his team.
He told the Manchester Evening News: "I'm not even talking about promotion or relegation now - I might have a look at the table at come Christmas or even February or March. After 40 games every team finishes where they deserve to finish.
"I have a competitive squad and two results is not going to change my opinion. I'm obviously disappointed to lose them. But against Fleetwood we should have got something and York are a good footballing side.
"I said to the lads 'if you didn't know you were in for a hard season you do now' but I have every faith in them. We've got to stick together and pull in same direction.
"We've got to grow quickly and learn how to win matches by defending leads, which we've failed to do so far. I don't dispute we're not scoring enough but sometimes if you score one and keep a clean sheet that's enough.
"I'm not interested in nice football, obviously we want to put the ball on the floor but when you've got Antonio German and Tom Elliot sometimes you have to go long because they're a threat in the air."
