Stockport County must not fall into Wrexham, Bolton Wanderers trap in November | OneFootball

It promises to be a tough few weeks for the Hatters

Stockport County had a flying start to life back in League One at the beginning of the 2024/25 season.

Still with only two losses to their name, 13 games in, from the outside, things seem to be going well.

But a string of draws and a heavy 4-1 defeat to struggling Leyton Orient made many inside Edgeley Park feel as though the club had hit a rocky patch, a matter not helped by Dave Challinor’s reaction to the second loss, against Lincoln City.

However, a strong midtable position, as they are maintaining at the minute, is a great result for the Hatters. When tough tests against Wrexham and Bolton Wanderers come around in November, any struggles must not be allowed to damage the feeling around the club.

County have a tough November calendar

The Hatters come up against Wycombe Wanderers, Wrexham and Bolton in November, all in the play-off places.

And things don’t get any breezier in December, kicking that month off with an away trip to league leaders Birmingham City.

There is no escaping the fact that a tough few weeks lie ahead for County.

They have proven in the early part of the season that they have a squad that competes with any other in the division, but they are not immune to a poor performance — and the top sides will be doing all they can to drag that out of them.

Fans must remember during this flurry of tough tests that County are new to the league, having made a relatively rapid rise from the sixth tier of football — a season of consolidation, sitting comfortably in midtable, is a good result, and one that allows for a few losses here and there.

Challinor’s side will, of course, not approach this block of fixtures with that mindset, but taking maximum points from those games would be some achievement. There are bound to be difficult days in there somewhere.

County must avoid benchmarking against Wrexham and Mansfield

It feels like one element that lowered the atmosphere around the club after the lightning start is seeing fellow promoted sides Wrexham and Mansfield Town pushing on towards the top of the table.

That may particularly be the case in terms of the Reds Dragons, who have been a thorn in the side of County since the National League, but with the Hatters usually coming out on top.

However, County must look at their position in isolation, and cancel out the outside noise.

Most fans would have accepted at the beginning of the season that a midtable finish is promising this year, some may even have actively encouraged a less dramatic campaign.

That is still true now, and the likes of Mansfield and Wrexham will undoubtedly have rough patches of their own over the course of 2024/25.

If not, then either side will have a mountain of work to do to get their side ready for Championship football a little over a year after playing their last League Two game.

Challinor must lead the way in this calm approach

Challinor is no doubt under pressure from above to achieve the highest possible position in the table, but he must not allow this pressure to seep out publicly as he did against Lincoln.

Goalkeeper Corey Addai did misplace a pass, leading to a Lincoln goal, but it’s difficult to see that as justification for hooking him at half-time in favour of Ben Hinchliffe.

The County boss said in his post-match interview following that game that he treats goalkeepers the same as any other player on the pitch, freely replacing them if they’re having a bad game.

But they aren’t any other player — they need consistency and backing. Being brought off the way Addai was then opened him up to much harsher criticism from some fans, and you could see that pressure weighing on his shoulders in the early part of the next game against Reading, despite then growing into the game.

Although County are sitting in midtable, they have still made a good start to this season.

Supporters, and Challinor, while being honest about improvements to be made, must not let the atmosphere turn sour in the tough month that November promises to be against the likes of Wrexham and Bolton. Any turn in sentiment around the club could be their undoing, more so than a couple of dropped points.