Stockport County manager Jimmy McNulty said his team put in a performance that was ‘worthy’ of beating Sheffield Wednesday, on what was a ‘dream’ afternoon for him and his players.

It finished goalless at Hillsborough on Saturday, but The Hatters were the better team and should have led at half-time after missed chances, hitting the post and generally controlling the game. His team had 18 shots compared to Wednesday’s six. But McNulty wanted more.

McNulty said; “It's a good point, and a clean sheet is welcome for sure. I believe most people in the stadium believe we should have won today. I'd say the neutral would think so. I'm really proud of the performance. I'm really proud of the effort. The performance had courage and personality up until a point. Essentially, I believe we're capable of more. I believe we really are. To leave here overly happy with only a point after a lot of control in the game and some real periods of domination as well, I think we're capable of more.”

McNulty felt if his team had more ‘belief’ then they could have won 3-0, but he did not want to be too critical of his side. He continued: “I don't think we need to leave those moments to hope. I think we're good enough. We don't need to come here with any sort of imposter syndrome that we're not capable of winning 3-0. And today's performance was still worthy of a win, so don't take this too far. But it's my job to push these guys to capacity, and I think they're capable of more. I think if we had a bit more belief, I think we don't end up with the same amount of shots on target today when we had three times more shots than the opponent in general.”

There were 32,000 in the stadium and McNulty was pleased with how his players managed the occasion, saying it was a ‘dream’ for him to be a manager on such a stage. He added: “Sheffield Wednesday, huge gargantuan club. The atmosphere is amazing, but we dreamed of playing here when we were boys. I dreamed of managing here. I want the dream to become reality when we actually come here. I don't think we need to feel too inferior because I genuinely don't think we are.”