Stockport County cannot let Charlton Athletic disappointment become the norm | OneFootball

It's a trait that Hatters fans have not been faced with in recent years at Edgeley Park

Stockport County have had an inspired start to life in League One this season.

They started as one of the early pace-setters in the division, but have conceded some ground as the realities of third-tier football take hold.

Although results haven’t taken too much of a tumble, something that has been noticed, including by fans in the stands, is the number of bookings being picked up by the Hatters.

For a team more accustomed to winning fair play awards, it’s an uncomfortable sight for some, and may start to impact league position if the leaders in the dressing room don’t grip the situation.

County’s game against Charlton highlighted the issue

The latest instalment of this new trend was witnessed in the Hatters’ trip to the Valley.

In total, five County players were carded against Charlton Athletic with centre-back Fraser Horsfall sent off for two bookable offences.

He protested that he had won the ball on the second, but he did lunge in marginally after the ball had been played, breaking up a potentially dangerous Charlton attack in the final minutes of the game.

The Addicks failed to score from the resulting set-piece, so Horsfall may have salvaged a point for County with his challenge, but it means he will miss the Hatters’ next game.

Horsfall’s dismissal is the culmination of a new and undesirable streak creeping into County’s play.

Three were booked in the recent match against Wigan Athletic, and five were carded in the win against Shrewsbury Town, including the entire starting backline.

The Hatters have been known as a ‘cleaner’ team in the past

Many will accept that you need to do what you need to do to win, and entering a new league means a side needs to be tough to beat before anything else, but this characteristic is relatively uncommon for many Hatters fans.

Back when County were in non-league, under former manager Jim Gannon, the club regularly won fair play awards thanks to a spotless record in terms of bookings and cautions.

Speaking after receiving one such award to the club website, Gannon said: “It’s a great achievement. I set the principles but the players have been acting like very good professionals and very good people.

“Ever since I did my Pro Licence, I’ve always wanted to play the game in a certain way and respect the standards of football.”

Some may have believed there was too great a focus on these types of awards, falling victim to teams willing to stretch the rules to benefit themselves, but it is an ethos many County fans bought into, and there appears to be worry in some quarters that those principles have been lost in recent weeks.

There is a space for the ‘dark arts’

Teams, especially those in County’s shoes, adjusting to a new division, do sometimes have to take any conceivable advantage they can by stretching the rules.

Whether it’s stopping a counter-attack by any means necessary, holding up the play as much as possible or being aggressive to assert the team on the pitch against quality opposition, sometimes a side has to do what they have to do.

However, the number of yellow cards County have been picking up risk tipping the balance away from gaining an advantage.

While Horsfall may have helped Challinor’s side hold onto a point at the Valley in picking up two bookings, we may never know how vital he could have been against his former side, Northampton Town.

At points this season County will need to be practical and do what it takes to win, but they must stop this slip towards multiple yellow cards, as Horsfall’s dismissal gives a small insight into how it could threaten to begin derailing the Hatters’ season if it’s allowed to set in as a common theme.