Dave Challinor hands Stockport players warning despite late fightback

Stockport manager Dave Challinor is demanding his players display the right attitude following their shaky 1-1 draw with Barnsley.

Jayden Fevrier, Benony Andresson and Kyle Wootton all went close during a bright opening before County faded and Vimal Yoganathan put Barnsley ahead after 27 minutes.

Stockport appeared to be heading for a third straight League One defeat until Callum Connelly levelled in the 89th minute after volleying home Jack Hunt’s cross.

“We are obviously pleased to get the point, but the first half was really disappointing,” a frustrated Challinor said.

“I’m not going to accept people saying they’re low on confidence. I can accept us being not very good, but I won’t accept feeling sorry for ourselves.

“If you’re feeling sorry for yourself and feeling low on confidence after a defeat, you’re probably playing for the wrong manager.

“Credit to the lads though, because we were a different team in the second half. But I just don’t get where that first-half attitude comes from.

“It’s all about attitude. If we’re going to lose, I’d rather lose by being true to ourselves.

“We can’t be dropping our heads. (The atmosphere) was flat as a pancake in the first half and I fully understand why. It was bouncing in the second half and I understand why.

“If the lads repeat that second half, we’ll be fine.

“We didn’t do anything tactically special in the second half. We got the ball into good areas, got the crowd involved, that’s it. We are clearly capable, and credit to the players for that.”

Barnsley head coach Conor Hourihane said the point, although disappointing, showed his side are moving in the right direction.

“If someone said before the game we would get a draw then we would probably have taken it,” he said.

“Obviously there’s an element of disappointment after how the game panned out.

“The big thing for me is that we are disappointed with a draw at Stockport, which shows how far we are coming and that we are going in the right direction.

“We had some big moments in the first half and needed to get that second. We knew we would suffer in the second half with their momentum.

“It is easy to suffer when you are two up and not one. We were outstanding in the first half with so much creativity, quality and energy. It’s a really exciting front end of the pitch that we have got at the minute.

“We just weren’t as clinical today when we had the chances as we were against Luton. They need to keep going and pushing and heading in the right direction individually and collectively.”