Dave Challinor not getting carried away after Stockport win at Orient

Stockport boss Dave Challinor remained calm after his team’s 1-0 win at Leyton Orient.

It was County’s fourth successive league win and in the process ended the Londoners’ 11-match unbeaten run.

Kyle Wootton’s first-half goal deservedly earned the Hatters all three points from a match they dictated throughout and moved them one place up the table into fourth.

Despite the setback, the O’s remain in the play-off positions in sixth place.

“It’s three points, no more, no less,” Challinor said. “We still have 17 games to go. We knew it would be difficult coming here with Orient on an unbeaten run of 11 games.

“A point wouldn’t have been the worst result but we set out to be really positive and we dominated the first half, made the breakthrough and should have been more in front.

“The second half we had to be a little different and sit in but we’ve taken a valuable three points. We should have been out of sight as we created some fantastic opportunities but we defended our goal well and we’ve done the job we set out to do and I’m delighted with that.

“They played a lot of diagonals and crosses but we nullified a lot of their attacks. Our keeper didn’t have a save to make in the second half despite all the possession Orient had and that was down to what was in front of him.

“We’ve defended crosses that have come in and then, at the end, they went direct and played diagonals and we dealt with all that.

“I’d like to two or maybe three more in before the transfer window closes, which would be a welcome boost, as we have a lot of inexperience in our bench.”

Orient boss Richie Wellens bemoaned his team’s overall performance.

“We started really slow and lethargic,” he stated. “We passed the ball slow and didn’t win enough duals, which isn’t like us, which gave them a leg up in the game.

“Second half we gave it a good go but didn’t make their goalkeeper work. We looked leggy and you need to get up to speed quick. I think the players’ mindset was to try and manage their way though.

“The referee was out of his depth today which is surprising when you’ve got a top of the table game. I’ve never seen him before, he’s not an experienced official and I thought he was poor in all aspects but we’ve also got ourselves to blame.

“We knew we had injuries but that’s not an excuse because we prepared for that and too many times in the first half the instructions we give them on the training ground were not carried out. That put us on the back foot.”