Dave Challinor left ‘bewildered’ as Stockport County suffer ‘mind-blowing’ defeat vs Bradford City

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Stockport just missed out on the play-off final last season, but their race for promotion feels like a long time ago now – especially after reading David Challinor’s recent post-match comments.

The Hatters had a winning start to the new campaign, beating Wycombe 2-1 at Adams Park before seeing off Crewe Alexandra 3-1 in the League Cup last week. Stockport’s future continued to look up after plans to expand Edgeley Park were revealed after a wildlife group failed to stop it.

Since then, they have thrown away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with Leyton Orient, before losing a 1-0 advantage and falling to a 2-1 defeat to Bradford City on Tuesday.

The Lancashire side’s start to the season has been far from catastrophic, but Challinor has been left frustrated by Stockport’s performances, and he certainly hasn’t shied away in his assessment of them.

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David Challinor’s flashbacks to Leyton Orient play-off semi-final goal

Stockport went ahead through Owen Moxon in the 16th minute after the Hatters had dominated the game in the first 45 minutes on Tuesday night.

It’s no wonder, then, that Challinor was left feeling seriously unimpressed after his side blew their half-time lead to lose 2-1, with Will Swan and Antoni Sarcevic’s goals securing all three points for the visitors and giving the County boss flashbacks to the play-off defeat.

The Hatters boss said: “To go from how good we were in the first to that second half, is pretty mind-blowing. We haven’t done our job in the third minute of the second half, and we’ve conceded a goal which is a carbon copy of that [Leyton Orient play-off semi-final] goal. And the same player is involved.

“The goals we concede are a shambles, and that needs to change. The first half was brilliant, we were fantastic and played some really good stuff. I won’t take anything away from the players for that – we should be further ahead than we were, and we shouldn’t lose the game.

“We’ve missed better chances in the second half, ultimately, than the first. You can’t always play well, teams will try and stop you – fine. If Bradford stopped us, no problem. But what’s hurt us is not doing our job defensively and switching off for two goals.”

It wasn’t just his side’s defending that Challinor was shocked by, but his strikers too.

He continued: “The Beno chance is close, but the goalkeeper shouldn’t have a chance with Beno’s chance or with Odin. Beno has half the goal to aim at. I wrote pages and pages of really good stuff in the first half. The second half, I was writing lists and lists of mistakes. That will cost you and that’s what we need to improve on.”

After their win on Tuesday, newly-promoted Bradford are now fourth in the League One table.

This is the Bantams’ highest position in the EFL since December 16th 2017 when they were also 4th in League One after beating Southend United 2-1. While City are climbing up the table, it’s been a tough week for County.

Challinor’s second rant at his players in a week

It had been just three days since Challinor last questioned his players when he gave his brutally honest post-Bradford interview.

The 49-year-old accused his side of ‘giving up’ at half-time against Leyton Orient in their draw.

Stockport were beaten by the O’s in last season’s play-off semi-finals, losing 4-1 on penalties at home.

In their meeting on Saturday, County let a two-goal half-time lead slip after Aaron Connolly’s goal and a stoppage-time equaliser from Ollie O’Neill cancelled out Nathan Lowe and Joseph Olowu’s first half efforts.

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He said: “The players went out in the second half and they decided what they wanted to do in the game. If that’s the case then they’re at the wrong football club under the wrong manager.

“Leyton Orient made us change things and we gave up at half-time. Based on 70 minutes of that game we didn’t deserve anything. It’s down to the negative mentality of the players, which may explain why some are here at Stockport and haven’t been more successful.

“If teams do something different against you, in my eyes you have to defend properly, to be the right side of the ball.“

Stockport will want to avoid losing another half-time lead and get back to winning ways when they face Burton on Saturday.