Dave Challinor urges Stockport to be promoted as champions

By Sports Desk April 09, 2024

Dave Challinor wants his Stockport side to target the League Two title after they moved to the verge of promotion with a 2-1 victory at Colchester.

Paddy Madden netted the Hatters’ second-half winner after Cameron McGeehan had cancelled out Nick Powell’s opener for the leaders.

Stockport boss Challinor said: “I’m still going to be the boring fellow who’ll say ‘you’ve worked so hard to get to this situation’ and when we do get promoted, we want to go up as champions.

“That’s still an objective and we need two wins to be able to do that.

“So if we are going to enjoy it, let’s make sure we enjoy it properly and put everything we can into the next 10 days or however long it may be and have a proper celebration.

“Colchester are scrapping for their lives and we weren’t great.

“We knew it would be a physical battle with the front two.

“Am I surprised that they get chances from set-pieces and from putting the ball into the box? No absolutely not but we dug in.

“It is the sign of a good team that we can not play very well but still win.”

Stockport took a 31st-minute lead when Powell’s hopeful effort from nearly 25 yards inexplicably squirmed under goalkeeper Owen Goodman and in, from Antoni Sarcevic’s short corner.

But Colchester equalised in first-half stoppage-time through McGeehan, who side-footed home Arthur Read’s corner.

Stockport bagged their winner on the hour mark when Madden converted from two yards after Connor Lemonheigh-Evans had cut Ethan Bristow’s cross back into his path.

Colchester had a golden opportunity to equalise in the 67th minute but Hinchliffe saved McGeehan’s penalty, after Tom Hooper had been fouled by Ethan Pye in the area.

Colchester boss Danny Cowley said: “The ball hasn’t quite rolled for us tonight.

“We’ve taken the best team in the league by a significant distance all the way and given them a really good game and arguably been the better team in the second half.

“But you can’t legislate for the two moments that happened.

“They do happen – there’s no recriminations, there’s no individual blame, it’s always a collective effort.

“I was proud of the team today, I was proud of the response that we showed after Saturday (against Wrexham) when we were really disappointed with ourselves.

“We beat ourselves in the last half hour in that game but tonight we showed resilience and determination.

“It was a really difficult moment for the team after conceding the first goal and you can easily go under in that situation but we didn’t and we responded really well.

“I’m really disappointed that we haven’t taken any points.”

Related items

  • Neville says England are mismanaging stars, calls for Mainoo to start Neville says England are mismanaging stars, calls for Mainoo to start

    Gary Neville believes England are mismanaging their star players and has called on Gareth Southgate to start Kobbie Mainoo in the Euro 2024 knockout stages.

    England topped Group C as a result of Tuesday's goalless draw with Slovenia, but they were booed off by their fans after producing another flat performance.

    The Three Lions created just 0.8 expected goals (xG) despite enjoying 74% of the possession, the latter being their highest figure ever recorded in a major tournament match where they failed to score (since 1966 for World Cup and 1980 for Euros).

    Southgate's team failed to attempt a single shot until the 30th minute, their longest wait for an attempt in a Euros match since 2000 (35th minute versus Germany).

    The England boss only made one change to the team that toiled in a 1-1 draw with Denmark on matchday two, replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold with Conor Gallagher, as Phil Foden and Harry Kane continued to struggle in attack.

    Speaking in his role as a pundit for ITV Sport, Neville said: "England have Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Kobbie Mainoo, Phil Foden… massive, massive talents and we cannot afford to mismanage them," he said.

    "We are the only country in the world who continually ask, 'where can these players fit?'"

    Manchester United midfielder Mainoo had a positive impact when he replaced Gallagher at half-time, and Southgate feels he should start Sunday's last-16 clash, which will pit England against a third-place finisher from either Group D or E.

    "Every time England made a change, they got better," Neville said. "I am certain Mainoo will start the next game. 

    "Southgate thought Gallagher was the option for energy, but it was quite obvious we needed someone on there to get us playing and Adam Wharton is capable of doing that as well.

    "The more substitutions we made, the less rigid we looked. We looked so basic in the first half, it was a struggle to watch that and I think we moved forward in the second half. We did not get the result, but there were glimpses of what we can be."

  • Chile 0-1 Argentina: Super sub Martinez sends Albiceleste to Copa America quarter-finals Chile 0-1 Argentina: Super sub Martinez sends Albiceleste to Copa America quarter-finals

    Lautaro Martinez struck a late winner as Argentina beat Chile 1-0 to secure their place in the Copa America knockout stages with a game to spare.

    The reigning champions looked like they would have to settle for a point on a frustrating night at the MetLife Stadium, having failed to turn their superiority into the game's opening goal.

    But substitute Martinez, who also netted from the bench in his nation's opener against Canada, finally broke Chile's resolve when he lashed home two minutes from time.

    It moved Lionel Scaloni's side onto six points at the Group A summit, three points ahead of Canada, who beat Peru 1-0 earlier in the day. A draw against Peru in their final game will now be enough to secure top spot.

    Argentina dominated the first half with 13 unanswered shots, yet just three of those were on target. One of them saw Julian Alvarez fire straight at Claudio Bravo from close range in the 22nd minute.

    Lionel Messi also went close to scoring in the 36th minute. La Albiceleste's skipper let fly with a fizzing 25-yard attempt that clipped the outside of Bravo's left post, while Erick Pulgar almost turned Nahuel Molina's cross beyond the Chile goalkeeper two minutes later.

    La Roja had Bravo to thank for keeping Argentina at bay, as the reigning champions continued to carry the greater attacking threat after the break.

    The veteran stopper beat away Molina's fierce strike within five minutes of the restart, and just after the hour mark, he produced a superb reflex save to tip Nicolas Gonzalez's drive onto the crossbar.

    With the breakthrough still eluding the world champions, Scaloni bolstered his attack by introducing Angel Di Maria and Martinez for the final 17 minutes.

    Chile had increased their own attacking threat by registering their first attempts on goal in the contest, with Rodrigo Echeverria calling Emiliano Martinez into action on both occasions.

    Yet, there was to be a late twist in Argentina's favour when an 88th-minute corner broke kindly for Martinez, who reacted quickest to fire into the roof of the net and send La Albiceleste through to the quarter-finals.

    Persistence pays dividends for Argentina

    The history books would have suggested Argentina should have fancied their chances against Chile.

    This is epitomised by the fact they are now unbeaten after 90 minutes in the last 13 meetings, winning eight of those, but that does not tell the full story.

    Seven of those eight victories have only been by a single-goal margin and, of course, they lost on penalties in the Copa America final showdowns of 2015 and 2016.

    Though they dominated most of this contest and registered 22 shots to their opponents' three, just the one goal was enough once more, with both of Martinez's strikes from the bench in this competition coming in the 88th minute.

    Argentina progress to the Copa America knockout stages for a 14th consecutive time, excluding when they withdrew from the 2001 tournament.

    Toothless Roja see resistance broken

    Chile looked set to frustrate Argentina once again at the Copa America and hold out for a second successive clean sheet.

    Their defensive resolve - along with an inspired performance by Bravo between the sticks - looked like it would remain firm and keep the reigning champions at bay, until Martinez's late intervention.

    What will be more concerning for La Roja is the fact they have now gone four successive Copa America matches without scoring, while having to wait until the 72nd minute for their first attempt on goal.

    That is something they need to address quickly ahead of their crucial final Group A clash with Canada, in which a victory could still see them snatch second place and a quarter-final spot.

  • Scotland denied '100% penalty' against Hungary, says Clarke Scotland denied '100% penalty' against Hungary, says Clarke

    Scotland head coach Steve Clarke was adamant his side should have been awarded a penalty as their Euro 2024 campaign ended with a 1-0 defeat to Hungary in Stuttgart. 

    Kevin Csoboth scored the winning goal in the 10th minute of injury-time to put Scotland out of another major tournament in the group stages. 

    However, things could have been much different for Clarke's side.

    Stuart Armstrong looked to have skipped beyond Hungary's Willi Orban in the 80th minute, before the RB Leipzig defender grappled across the midfielder, with both tumbling inside the area. 

    Referee Facundo Tello waved away Scotland's appeals, and a subsequent check by VAR deemed the challenge not worthy of awarding a spot-kick. 

    “It was 100% a penalty," Clarke said. "Somebody, somewhere has to explain to me why that's not a penalty. It’s a one goal game, we get the penalty and it could have been a different night.

    “I've got other words, but I'm not going to use them. I don't understand how VAR can look at that and say it's not a penalty.

    “In a European competition, it may have been better to have a European referee but we had European VAR and maybe a referee didn't see the challenge clearly on the pitch, so what's the purpose of VAR if they are not going to come in on something like that. It was a penalty.”

    Having qualified for successive European Championships, this was Scotland’s 12th major tournament group stage, and in 50% of those they have failed to win a single match – at the 1954, 1958, 1986, and 1998 World Cups and EURO 2020 and 2024.

    “We gave everything, there’s nothing you can fault there. It was a very tough game against a good opponent," said Clarke. "A very close game that was always going to be decided by the first goal. You could tell that after half an hour.

    “Unfortunately for us when we opened up towards the end of the game to try and chase the winner, that we felt we needed to get to the next stage, we got caught on the counter.”

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.