Stockport County are doing exactly what some preseason predictions said they would, and challenging for automatic promotion, However, not many would have expected the way they are doing it.
They are closing in on a record that has stood for over 21 years.
Last Saturday they beat Harrogate Town 3-1, This was their seventh straight win. A result that took them to the top of the League Two table.
Amidst all the talk of Notts County, another team tipped to do well, and unbeaten Mansfield Town, as well as Wrexham starting to climb the ladder, the Hatters have gone about their business and risen to the top.
Closing In On Records
Back in 2007, the club went on a nine-game win streak from January to March, without conceding a goal along the way – which is a league record. Should they win this weekend they edge closer to that mark with their eighth straight win.
The League Two record for consecutive wins is 12. This was set by Luton Town, between February and April 2002.
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League Two this year is highly competitive and the slightest let-up will see a team not only potentially lose top spot but fall out of the playoff places. Having said that you can start to see that the early favoured teams are making their way to the head of the division.
This is the reason why after last week’s away win manager Dave Challinor was keen to express that his side needed “to keep churning things out”.
When you factor in the EFL Trophy win against Salford City in the midweek before their latest league win, it is now eight wins on the bounce.
Challinor was reported in LimerickLive saying. “It’s a real, real good effort to win eight games in all competitions in a row. It does give you an indestructible feeling but we’ve just got to keep churning things out, whether that means steamrollering teams or digging in to get results.
“This was potentially a tough game [Harrogate] because, with their gameplan, the back four and two central midfielders hardly moved, so it can be hard to hurt them in behind but, with the quality of our second-half performance, we should have won by more and it was never a penalty.
“Even at 3-1, it could have also flipped the game on its head because, if it had lifted them and they had got another goal, we could have been hanging on in a game that we were in absolute control of.”
Writer’s View
It’ll be a brave person who tips Stockport to not continue their win streak on Saturday. They are at home against Grimsby Town who have yet to win away from home and drawn three of their six on their travels so far. Challinor’s main issue is to keep his team motivated. This should be relatively easy, with teams waiting for any slip-up in form.
