Dave Challinor challenges Stockport players to take more risks after first win

Posted Sunday, August 20, 2023 by PA

Stockport manager Dave Challinor called on his side to play with more confidence following their narrow 1-0 victory over Barrow.

Louie Barry scored the only goal of the game to earn last season’s beaten play-off finalists their first win of this League Two campaign.

Both sides settled into the game slowly and the lack of quality finishing left it 0-0 until Barry struck in the 66th minute.

Challinor said: “Delighted to get three points, we fully deserve it even if we did make hard work of it in terms of opportunities you create.

“I thought first off, although we had two one-on-ones, we were a bit safe and at times looked a bit scared.

“It’s pointless having players in positions and we expect certain things of them if they’re not going to make use of the ball.

“They reacted really well and got finally what we deserved.”

The County boss said poor results at the start of the season could be why players were not taking as many risks.

“I think we played it safe because of the results beforehand, whether people look at things in the news and in the media, they need to get off it if they do,” he said.

“It’s pointless us being able to trust them if they can’t trust themselves.

“You’ve got to play with a confidence that says I know what my strengths are. We’re not asking them to be overly risky, we’re asking them to do what we know they can do.”

Barrow boss Pete Wild was frustrated with a decision not to send off Stockport’s Kyle Knoyle when he caught Courtney Duffus with a high challenge that forced the visiting player off.

“The challenge isn’t malicious but we all know it’s a red card and you need big decisions to go your way at a ground like this and it just hasn’t for us,” Wild said.

“Courtney Duffus is in hospital, it’s an open gash. We’re going to miss him now through no fault of our own and that compounds the frustration.”

There was a debut for youngster Sean Etaluku, who came on as a substitute.

“Sean fully deserved his appearance today,” Wild added.

“It proves that our B team is not just there for talking about but it’s there to be used.”