STOCKPORT boss Dave Challinor reckons his side face a personal challenge to pick themselves up for Bolton after a 5-0 midweek drubbing against Wycombe.

The Hatters received their heaviest home defeat in 14 years on Tuesday night, with Challinor admitting the damage could have been much worse.

But he also believes the Edgeley Park men, whose bright start to the season has faded in the last few weeks, should be re-energised with the prospect of a local clash against Wanderers.

Speaking after the Wycombe disappointment, Challinor said his players needed to respond to criticism in the right way.

“It’s a great game to play in, it should be, anyway,” he said of the Bolton clash.

“It will be a great atmosphere. There are always challenges in football and are questions going to be asked of us as a coaching staff and of the players? Of course they are.

“That ultimately dictates who you are as an individual. If you are not willing to understand football like that – get out of it, do something different. If you can’t deal with the scrutiny or what people will be asking you to do, you are in the wrong industry.

“You have to be really thick-skinned, humble, and have humility when things like this happen. The biggest thing you have got to do is show a bit of… I was gong to swear, but a bit of bravery, resilience, to say ‘alright, I have been over worse things.’ “There are people in miles worse positions than we are, so go back to basics and understand who you are, why you are doing it, who you are doing it for, and ultimately what you want from it further down the line.

“If all those things are in place and, ultimately, you are feeling a little bit low, who is going to change it? You are. Stick your chest out and get on with it.

“One thing is for certain, this place will be bouncing on Saturday. There will be a real energy around the place and we have to match that with what we do in our performance.

“If the result doesn’t go in our favour, so what? We have to make sure we do everything we can to give ourselves the best chance of doing that.

“We know when the chips have been down we have shown it before, coming back, we have been fortunate to have lots of good times and not so many of these occasions, so this will be a new challenge for some. But I’m up for it, and I’ll make sure the players are too.”