Challinor banks on Rovers old pals’ act
COUNTY boss Dave Challinor admits he will be hoping for a final day favour from former side Tranmere Rovers, as The Hatters seek a memorable automatic promotion from League Two next Monday.
A 0-3 thrashing of champions Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road on Saturday, coupled with Northampton’s last-gasp 1-2 defeat to Bradford City, leaves County two points adrift of the Cobblers with a vastly superior goal difference.
That means that Northampton must win at Tranmere to seal the third and final automatic promotion spot, whilst County must beat relegated Hartlepool at Edgeley Park and hope that The Cobblers drop points at Prenton Park.
Currently separated by two points and nine goals, a draw for Northampton and a win for County would see Challinor’s men snatch the third spot on goal difference.
A 95th minute winner for Bradford at Sixfields sparked wild celebrations from the 1,214 travelling County fans at Brisbane Road on Saturday – but Challinor has warned of a big task still lying ahead.
“We knew what was going on elsewhere, we knew Northampton were losing and had then equalised, and for them to concede late on changes the complexion of things again,” he said.
“But it’ll be a picture that changes throughout the final day. Ultimately, it didn’t matter what happened elsewhere if we didn’t go and win at Leyton Orient.
“Yes, I’ll still be onto the lads at Tranmere next week! Of course we’d like them to do us a favour, but if we don’t win our game, any other results are irrelevant.
“Tranmere will have their own agenda with players playing for contracts and wanting to end the season on a high in front of their fans.
“But all sides involved have got jobs to do – we have my old side back at Edgeley Park, who have just been relegated despite winning their game.
“That just shows how your fate can be sealed elsewhere – the bottom line is take care of yourselves first.”
Orient, crowned champions a week prior to Saturday’s clash, were set to lift the trophy at a sold-out Brisbane Road in glorious sunshine – but County, needing a win to have any chance of automatic promotion, dampened the party inside just ten minutes.
Akil Wright headed home from Chris Hussey’s cross, before Callum Camps doubled the lead in the tenth minute with a piledriver from outside the area.
With Orient left reeling by County’s fast start, the remainder of the affair largely amounted to nothing much at either end, until Connor Evans headed home a third late on.
“It was a good performance, aided by how we started the game,” said Challinor.
“Going to Orient, you know they’re very possession-based and I thought we managed that very well.
“You could tell that, even though they are already champions, they wanted to win the game. We managed the day very well, and getting those two quick goals set us up nicely.
“It’s Orient’s strongest side that they’ve put out in terms of personnel. We’ve frustrated them, we’ve got two early goals which has allowed us to play on the break which I think we did really well with the pace of Jack Stretton and Tanto Olaofe.”
Challinor also reserved praise for centre-half Joe Lewis, who started his first game since January in an unfamiliar left-sided role.
He said: “The thinking with Joe was that we knew the threat and the danger Paul Smyth posed for them, and Joe out on the left as potentially our quickest defender, and our best defender in terms of one v ones, was a good choice.
“He was great. He was bang on defensively. He’s had a tough season, coming into a side which was already successful, and also being the man to replace supporters’ heroes like Ash Palmer and Keano.
“He’s a young centreback with his best years ahead of him, and he has a real chance. We have real belief and faith in him.”
Ahead of the final day visit of Hartlepool, relegated on Saturday despite a 3-1 win over Barrow, Pools chairman Raj Singh had threatened to stoke the flames around former manager Challinor with an explosive in-house interview.
Whilst announcing that the club had been made available for sale, Singh pointed the finger of blame for the club’s fall from Grace directly at Challinor, who departed the North East in November 2021 to drop back down to the National League with County.
Challinor had taken Pools up to League Two via the play-offs the season prior, and left the club on the verge of the League Two play-off spots.
But, since then, County have climbed to fourth in the same division under Challinor’s guidance, whilst Hartlepool have again crashed out of the EFL.
Singh highlighted Challinor’s departure as the turning point for the club’s downfall, even accusing the County boss of talking to other clubs “behind our backs” prior to his exit.
Challinor, however, refused to be drawn on Singh’s inflammatory comments.
“I know first-hand the hard work that went into promotion there,” he said.
“I won’t be embroiled in mudslinging – the club and supporters will be hurting. I know how much the club means to that town, and just really hope there are good times to come again.”
Hartlepool now visit Edgeley Park on Bank Holiday Monday, with the game shown live on Sky Sports alongside Northampton’s trip to Tranmere Rovers, in a ‘winner takes all’ pair of fixtures.
Challinor emphatically remarked that, whilst the former Tranmere defender “hates losing”, his side will be left with no regrets come the final whistle.
“As much as I hate losing, that’s part of football and you have to learn to lose and live with it. There was a really interesting quote shared among the backroom staff this week – ‘it’s not failure, it’s just another step to succeeding,’” he said. “You can’t guarantee success, but you can guarantee that we’ll do all we can to succeed.
“We will have no regrets come full-time. We will focus only on taking care of our own business, and one thing is for certain, we will be doing everything we can to win.”