Dave Challinor calls Stockport’s draw at Northampton ‘terrible game of football’

Stockport boss Dave Challinor reflected on a “terrible game of football” after his side were held to a goalless draw by Northampton on New Year’s Day.

Kyle Edwards threatened three times for the home side in the first half at Sixfields, whereas it took 65 minutes for Stockport to register their first shot when Malik Mothersille’s sweet strike was tipped over.

Joe Wormleighton came closest to winning it for Northampton, with his low shot saved by Ben Hinchliffe late on, but the spoils were shared.

“I thought it was a terrible game of football, to be honest,” said Challinor.

“There was zero quality and sometimes you get games like that at this time of year.

“I said to players afterwards, the least said the better because I thought the first half was probably the worst I’ve seen of us under me – it was nothing like what I expect.

“We had limitations with who we could pick in terms of not putting players at risk and we huffed and puffed but it was nowhere near where we need to be.

“If we want to be successful, we have to be miles better than that. We’ve somehow got a clean sheet but we haven’t done anywhere near enough and not looked like a Stockport County team at all.

“It was scary how bad the first half was.”

Northampton manager Kevin Nolan had a different view as his side stopped the rot after successive defeats.

“I’m very pleased with the performance and the result,” said Nolan. “It’s a shame it’s not three points because we probably did enough to win the game but it’s been a tough few days and we’ve had some tough games away from home.

“To come back to Sixfields and perform like we did against a strong Stockport team, who are one of the favourites for the league and will be up there, is pleasing and I’m happy with the output of the lads who started and the contributions of the subs that came on.

“This is the time of year when your squad gets asked questions and I think they answered them today in real good fashion and I’m pleased with the response from the last couple of games.

“It’s our first clean sheet in a while too and that’s something we have spoken about in terms of getting back to where we are and what we are because we’ve given away too many cheap goals for my liking.

“But today was much better and the difference was that we earned the right to play, we got momentum from that and we were effective with the ball. We just didn’t quite execute in the final third.”