Matt Bloomfield spoke of his pride after watching Wycombe Wanderers sweep Stockport County aside 5-0 to go top of League One but insists their feet remain on the ground.
Richard Kone’s brace, including a penalty, and Fred Onyedinma’s strike saw the visitors grab a three-goal advantage inside 18 minutes at Edgeley Park.
The Nigerian’s header and Aaron Morley’s strike after half-time further confirmed Wycombe’s fifth successive league win as they leapfrogged Birmingham City to the summit on goal difference.
It’s the first time they have reached the top place in League One since July 2022, after they defeated Buton Albion on the opening day of that season.
But Chairboys boss Bloomfield knows the campaign has a long way to go as he reflected on beating a County side he has plenty of admiration for.
He said: “We’re really fortunate to have a real special group of young men and I’m really proud of them.
“We wanted to come out of the blocks, we were so respectful of Stockport before the game, they’ve got a very good team and Dave (Challinor) has done a great job here over a number of years.
“We put the team together and we knew the threats they were going to pose and we felt like we needed to come out of the blocks quickly and impose ourselves on the game.
“I want to keep a lid on it because there’s so long to go.
“We’ve done a lot of work over the summer and put some stuff in place, but we’ve got a tough game at Wigan on Saturday and all our focus now has to be on recovering, preparing and making sure we turn up there with the energy we need.
“It can’t be underestimated what a tough game we had so enjoy the win, take the moment, reset and get ready to go again.”
It was the complete contrast for Stockport boss Dave Challinor, as he believes his side’s poor start cost them dearly and the defeat helps illustrate where they currently stand in League One.
It was the first meeting between the two teams since the 2010/11 season, with the result being Wycombe’s first away at County in their history.
The win is only the sixth time in 24 attempts they have defeated the Hatters.
Challinor, whose team are 10th and two points off the play-off places, said: “I suppose what it does do is if there were any misconceptions about where we were at and what we need to do, then it’s maybe answered some of that for some people.
“But goals can change games and the start of the game puts us under huge pressure and we didn’t recover from that.
“What you’ve got to do though, regardless of being behind, is making sure you take care of the person opposite you and you take care in terms of team-mates and the person next to you and get them through those spells.
“We didn’t do that and it resulted in a really difficult night for us and to be fair, a night that could have ended more than five.
“I’m not foolish enough to think we’re further ahead than what some people may think we are based around the results we got earlier in the season.”
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