Stockport could hardly have asked for a better introduction to third-tier football, as they sit top of the pile thanks to three wins and three clean sheets from their opening three outings.

Dave Challinor's side extended that start with a fine 2-0 win over Bristol Rovers a week ago, having already won at Blackpool, and versus Cambridge United on the opening weekend.

The glaring blemish so far was their 6-1 EFL Cup defeat to Blackburn Rovers, but that can be attributed to the fact Challinor made 10 changes from the side that has been lining up in the league.

This start has given the Edgeley Park faithful dreams of returning to the Championships after 23 years away, and it would be a remarkable feat given where the club was just a few years ago.

County only won promotion to the EFL back in 2022, and they were a sixth-tier club as recently as 2019, which says it all about the job Challinor has done with the Hatters.

Mansfield have found their adjustment to League One slightly more challenging, but they have proved they can compete at this level.



译文(自动翻译仅供参考):

斯托克波特几乎没有比这更好的进入三线联赛的机会了，因为他们在开场三场比赛中取得了三场胜利，三场零封，排名第一。

戴夫·查林诺的球队在一周前以2:0完胜布里斯托尔流浪者延续了这一开局，此前他们已经在布莱克浦和首战周末战胜了剑桥联队。

到目前为止，最明显的缺陷是他们在联赛杯上以6比1输给布莱克本，但这可以归因于查林诺在联赛中对阵容进行了10次调整。

这一开局让埃奇利公园的球迷们梦想着时隔23年后重返英冠赛场，考虑到俱乐部几年前的状况，这将是一项了不起的成就。

郡队在2022年才升入英超联赛，直到2019年他们还是一家六线俱乐部，这说明了查利诺在帽匠队所做的一切。

曼斯菲尔德发现他们在英甲的适应有点困难，但他们已经证明了他们可以在这个级别上竞争。