Dave Challinor hails confidence-boosting win as Stockport see off Bradford

Posted Sunday, October 09, 2022 by PA

Stockport boss Dave Challinor urged his side to build on their 1-0 win at Bradford.

County claimed their first away win since returning to the Football League and ended Bradford’s unbeaten home record thanks to Paddy Madden’s first-half penalty.

The Hatters had lost all five of their games on the road going into the game and Challinor wants it to prove a turning point.

He said: “All wins are big but, when we’ve been on the run that we have, we felt this was an opportunity to give the players a big boost confidence-wise.

“You have to get over hurdles, especially when you’ve been on a run like us.

“We have done that by winning away from home at a good side who will undoubtedly be up there.

“I think we’re a good side and truly believe in the group we’ve got. Hopefully this can be the start of a run for us.”

Antoni Sarcevic signalled Stockport’s intentions by forcing a good save from Harry Lewis after two minutes.

Harry Chapman then hit the bar for Bradford and saw another cross-shot palmed away by Stockport keeper Vitezslav Jaros.

But the visitors took the lead after 26 minutes, Madden scoring from the spot after Sarcevic had been knocked over by Timi Odusina.

Substitute Yann Songo’o poked wide from Tyreik Wright’s free-kick, but Stockport continued to defend resolutely and they nearly had a second goal when Ash Palmer’s close-range header was superbly kept out by Lewis.

Challinor added: “The second half was a monumental effort physically to stop them. I would have loved to have been more than one goal to the good, but we had to dig in and show a different part to what makes a good team.”

Bradford boss Mark Hughes was disappointed with his side’s first home defeat of the season.

He said: “We didn’t play particularly well, we certainly weren’t good enough in the first half in being able to deal with the problems that Stockport were presenting.

“The physicality of the opposition knocked us off our stride initially and, for whatever reason, we didn’t display enough confidence on the ball.

“That’s our strength and I just think that filtered through to all parts of the team. We’ve got to be better than that.

“If you make a bad pass, then the next one you do, you make sure it’s a good one. It was happening too often in all units of the field.

“I’ve not seen that in our play for quite some time and it was a little bit of a surprise.

“I’m not too sure about the penalty. There was a coming together but I think the lad had already off-loaded the ball. It was something we see in boxes in League Two time and time again.”