Stockport’s Dave Challinor: Conceding late equaliser ‘leaves a sour taste’

Manager Dave Challinor was left frustrated after Stockport conceded a stoppage-time equaliser in the 1-1 draw at home to high-flying Cardiff.

Oliver Norwood’s first-half penalty had looked like earning Stockport victory until Yousef Salech struck seven minutes into added time.

Challinor said: “I am pleased with the first-half performance. We need to get into a situation where we can perform like that for longer.

“Probably up until 60 minutes we were really aggressive in terms of our press and probably lost a little bit of impetus after that.

“But to concede in the manner we did is obviously disappointing and leaves a sour taste on what should have been a really positive afternoon for us.

“Naturally, you have to put the goal we conceded partly down to concentration and there are some tactical and technical bits we need to do better.

“You can’t be conceding a goal from a free header in the middle of your goal on the six-yard line.

“We can’t concede a goal like that, it doesn’t happen to a team that is going to be at the top of the league. Ultimately, that’s where our aspirations lie.”

After a quiet opening to the contest, Stockport began to dominate proceedings and came inches from taking the lead when Benony Andresson struck the upright.

Andresson, who was a constant thorn in Cardiff’s side throughout his 73 minutes on the pitch, missed a golden chance to give Stockport the lead when his close-range header was palmed over the bar by goalkeeper Nathan Trott.

Norwood gave Stockport a deserved 34th–minute lead when he coolly sent Trott the wrong way from the penalty spot after Andresson had been fouled.

Salech was adjudged to have mistimed his run into the box before tapping home Chris Willock’s cross as Cardiff had a goal chalked off for offside after the interval.

But, deep into stoppage time, the pair combined again with Salech glancing home Willock’s floated cross to snatch an equaliser.

Cardiff boss Brian Barry-Murphy was delighted with the character his players showed to keep pressing for a goal late on and believed his team was deserving of a point.

He said: “We hadn’t had any real adversity or anything go against us before today because we have been so good.

“Our first-half play was not what I wanted it to be and as such we deserved to be behind at the break.

“At half-time, I was looking for a reaction from the players and for them to understand what it felt like to increase performance levels and it was so pleasing to see this.

“It was a great cross from Chris to service the goal. I thought we looked quite dangerous at the end of the game, which was the most pleasing thing for me.

“We tried to be as aggressive as possible, to get a lot of attacking players on the pitch and go forward. Fortunately, we scored that goal.”