Dave Challinor refuses to get carried away after Stockport go top of League One

Stockport manager Dave Challinor refused to get carried away after his side moved to the top of the Sky Bet League One table with a comfortable 3-0 win away at Port Vale.

Nathan Lowe, Kyle Wootton and Jack Diamond all found the net in the space of 16 first-half minutes to ensure County climbed from fourth place to the summit – two points clear of the three teams below them – with a fourth consecutive victory.

“We might be off top of the league by tomorrow (after Bradford’s game against Lincoln), so we’ll enjoy it for what it is at the moment,” Challinor said.

“But we’re 14 games in, we’re on 28 points – two points per game, which is a [good] number over the course of 46 games. If we do that we’ll be happy.

“But we’re a fraction of the way through the season, so there’s still a long way to go.

“It was great for the supporters to be able to back us throughout the game.

“We’ve been speaking and saying someone will eventually be on the end of more than a 1-0 [win] and thankfully it was tonight.

“And we’ll try and back that up next Saturday at Tranmere in the FA Cup.”

Port Vale started brightly and had a great chance to take the lead early on when former Stockport man Ryan Croasdale headed recent signing Marvin Johnson’s delivery over the crossbar.

But County went in front shortly after through Lowe’s header and the visitors took complete control from then on.

“They’re three good goals from our perspective,” Challinor added.

“I thought we started a little bit slow in the first couple of minutes – not tracking runners, a big pitch thinking we were going to have all day on the ball.

“But once we got that first goal, it sort of gave us momentum. And for a spell there, for half an hour, I thought we were excellent and caused them real problems.”

Defeat for Vale sees them remain in the relegation zone and two points away from safety.

Boss Darren Moore was left to rue Croasdale’s missed opportunity when the match was goalless.

“The boys are not showing a real true reflection in terms of where we’re at,” he said.

“If we score that goal in the first few minutes, it’s a different game all together. It’s a glorious chance.

“It’s almost like two identical chances – one for us that we didn’t capitalise on and one for them that they did.

“And that was the difference in terms of the quality of finishing when they (the chances) presented themselves.

“And those are the bits and pieces that we have to be more clinical in.

“We’ve got to demand more from ourselves in terms of when we get into those positions.

“And we’re getting into those positions, but converting the chances seems to be falling by the way side.”