Dave Challinor lamented the “horrendous” goals Sky Bet League Two leaders Stockport conceded in their 3-1 loss to Crewe as he admitted his side’s performance was “miles off” what he expects.
Mickey Demetriou put the visitors ahead before Stockport’s Tanto Olaofe equalised at Edgeley Park, but goals from Ed Turns and Josh Austerfield either side of half-time ensured back-to-back victories for Crewe in their promotion quest.
Second-placed Mansfield are now a point behind the Hatters and Challinor was in no mood to forget a bad night at the office as he demanded improvement after a four-game winning run came to an end.
“It’s a poor night for us. I’m not great for positives straight after a game and I could be sentimental and say ‘we’ve had a good run and we’re in a great position’ but that’s not me,” Challinor said.
“I don’t care what team you are, you can’t concede them goals. We’ve conceded three goals from set pieces, horrendous goals. I thought we were poor from the get-go and take nothing away from Crewe.
“You get the equaliser and you’re sort of back in the game, you shoot yourself in the foot and you try and regroup and make some changes at half-time and then you shoot yourself in the foot straight after half-time.
“It then becomes a poor night and one that I’d love to say I’m going to brush under the carpet and move on from but I’m not because this isn’t a short-term process around what tonight looks like, it’s longer term than that and that was miles off it from one of my teams.”
Crewe remain third after the impressive win but narrowed the gap to Stockport to four points as boss Lee Bell enthused about his side’s showing.
He said: “I think it’s the best result for the players to come away against a really top team with good players and rightly so, they’re top of the league.
“To put on that performance, all credit to the players as they played exactly how we wanted them to play, with the energy and understanding that we’re after. It was top drawer. We couldn’t have asked any more of the players.
“We got goals. That’s what we wanted to bring to the game and we thought we could get some control within the game of how they’re playing.
“It’s just a really good result, really positive. We’ll enjoy the next five minutes and then we’ll be focusing, as soon as we get on the bus, on Saturday.
“I go back to being that consistent team and if you want to achieve anything in this league it’s the consistency, but it’s a really good night and I hope the fans enjoyed it.”
