Amazing to be one game from Championship - Challinor

Challinor: 'It's not lost on me how well we've done'

Stockport County manager Dave Challinor says it is "amazing" for the club to be one match away from the second tier for the first time in 24 years.

County's 2-0 semi-final second-leg victory over Stevenage on Wednesday secured a 3-0 aggregate win and booked their place in next Sunday's League One play-off final at Wembley.

Owner Mark Stott's target when he took over the club in 2020 was to get County, then playing in the National League, into the Championship in seven years.

"It's amazing," Challinor - who, in 16 seasons as a manager, has won seven promotions, including two with Stockport - told BBC Radio Manchester.

"Even if you're the most optimistic person, and I think the owner is, I don't think anyone else would think a plan to get this club back into the Championship would be exactly on line [track].

"It's the biggest step and the hardest step, but it's an opportunity, and that's all you can ask for.

"The supporters have been fantastic. It would be great for the players and the staff to thank the fans. Hopefully, we'll get the ultimate opportunity to thank them by holding up a trophy at Wembley a week on Sunday."

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Relegation from the second tier in 2002, following arguably the club's glory years around the turn of the century, preceded a sharp decline that included financial turmoil and six seasons at National League North level from 2013 to 2019.

But now, following promotion back into the Football League in 2022, then into League One as fourth-tier champions in 2024, the near quarter-of-a-century journey back to the second tier is one game away from completion.

It is a league, in its current guise at least, they have never competed in - the second tier was still named Division One when the Hatters were last in it.

Challinor added: "It's not lost on me how well everyone has done to get us to this situation, but I know that if things don't go our way and we don't get promoted, there's always going to be a sense of disappointment.

"We'll take all the pats on the back for getting this far, but we now have the biggest game of the season in front of us, and it's about how we perform on that day."

County have already been to Wembley this season, losing the EFL Trophy final to Luton Town and Challinor is hoping that experience will help his team when they face either Bradford City or Bolton Wanderers on Sunday, 24 May.

"We'll go into the game knowing that if we do perform to our best, we have a good chance of being promoted," he added.

"If we don't, we know the disappointment could be there again. We certainly don't want to feel that.

"You should always be better prepared in the fact that the players have now all experienced it before. They know what disappointment feels like.

"We have a week leading into a game which is nice. It's a massive occasion to look forward to, but we're going there to win, and that's the most important thing."