Stockport boss Dave Challinor upbeat despite goalless Gillingham draw

Posted Wednesday, March 08, 2023 by PA

Stockport boss Dave Challinor was not disheartened despite his play-off chasing side being held to a second straight 0-0 home draw within the space of four days.

County at least moved up a place to sixth in Sky Bet League Two after a game which saw lowly Gillingham defend resolutely.

Challinor said: “Our performance was okay, we’ve been in total control of the game throughout.

“If I was to be critical in any way then maybe we could have asked their goalkeeper a few more questions after having 75 per cent possession.

“You have to give Gillingham credit, they’ve come and got themselves a point.

“Maybe we could have shown a bit more quality and mixed it up a bit.

“We just needed to score and then it’s a different game.

“We were camped in their half in the second half, but that spark just wouldn’t come.

“It wasn’t for the want of trying.

“Our two home performances this last week have been okay and we’ve done more than enough to have won both games, but we’ve just not got that all-important goal.

“That’s life I suppose.

“We’re still in a good place and with 11 games of the season to go we’re still right up there challenging at the right end.”

Stockport bossed the first half, one during which County goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe was not tested at all.

Isaac Olaofe went closest to a breakthrough when his shot clipped the crossbar.

Kyle Knoyle hit a post after the restart for the hosts, but despite their continued domination they could not find a winner.

It’s now just one defeat in six for Gillingham under Neil Harris.

They dropped a place to 21st in the table but are now nine points clear of the bottom two after Harris admitted his side had come for a share of the spoils.

Harris said: “We had to do what we had to do to get a draw tonight.

“It was all about the clean sheet and I’m absolutely delighted we got that and got ourselves a point.

“We had a few different personnel in the team tonight, but that was because we came for a nil-nil.

“I thought we could maybe go on and nick one, but I’m not complaining with the result.

“The attitude of the players was tremendous.

“That’s 21 points from 11 games…and that’s a good return.

“We have to be respectful at places like this when we know how tough it’s going to be, but we defended our box brilliantly – our back five were tremendous.

“I think this result just shows how far we’ve come this last couple of months.

“We wouldn’t have come away with a result like this before Christmas.”