DAVE KEEPS FOCUS ON HIS HATTERS

STOCKPORT boss Dave Challinor will hope to get the better of former club Hartlepool as he looks to snatch automatic promotion.

- Ben Thomas

Fourth-placed Stockport need to win at Edgeley Park tomorrow and hope that Northampton, who are two points better off, do not claim victory at Tranmere if they are to leapfrog the Cobblers into third place in the table safe in the knowledge that they already have a guaranteed place in the play-offs.

County are unbeaten in 12 games and have only suffered one defeat in their last 19 outings.

Challinor, who hopes to have Will Collar, Ryan Rydel and Isaac Olaofe available, said: “Ultimately, if we’d been offered the opportunity to still have a crack at automatic promotion with one game to go, regardless of what happens elsewhere, then I think we’d have all been pretty pleased with where we currently sit.