Stockport’s “brilliant performance” put the smile back on boss Dave Challinor’s face as two-goal Louie Barry helped County to a 4-1 win over previously in-form Reading.
However, Challinor offered a note of caution despite the Hatters ending a winless run of four games with a superb display.
Barry scored a first-half penalty and took his season’s tally to 10 by doubling his match total in the second period.
Will Collar and Kyle Wootton also netted for County, with Chem Campbell briefly levelling for the Royals.
“It was a brilliant performance but it doesn’t mean we have cracked it by any means,” said Challinor at the start of six successive home games across three competitions for his team.
“We have to try and find that consistency and try to reduce what the spread of our performances can look like.
“If we can do that we should be up there, in and around it.
“We would love to get promoted this season but that’s tough when you see some of the teams in this division. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to try.”
County kicked off with only one win in their previous nine third-tier outings.
“Our goalscoring opportunities were good. We had 15 or 16 attempts and around half were on target,” added Challinor.
“So, you make them defend and do their jobs. Out of possession we were back to what we were in terms of our personality, being front foot and high intensity.
“On the one occasion we got it wrong they scored.”
Reading boss Ruben Selles refused to be too downhearted after his side’s three-game winning run ended abruptly.
He had no complaints about County’s penalty for Andre Garcia’s foul on Jack Diamond, but he was unhappy the home team’s second goal from Wootton was allowed to stand.
“It was offside,” he said. “I understand these things happen but I was upset.
“The penalty was a penalty but we needed to defend better. But we are talking about a 16-year-old player (Garcia) who three months ago was nowhere near to being a professional footballer.
“He will learn from that but we also need to learn how to support him.
“It has been a good period for us but it didn’t end in the best way possible.
“We knew it would it be a difficult game. And we had some periods in the first half where we played well, but the opponent was better than us.”
