Youth Team coach Chris Brown reflects on Wednesday night’s FA Youth Cup defeat to Shrewsbury Town…
“We had a game plan that we wanted to play to and it didn’t come out how we expected it to.
“Performance levels weren’t that great and the lads know that themselves. They’ve been playing very well over the last few weeks and tonight wasn’t how we wanted it to be. I think they played the occasion rather than the game, which is disappointing.
“It’s a massive learning curve for them.”
Academy Manager Tony Ellis and first-team Manager Keith Hill chose Bradley Wade as their Man of the Match. The 16-year-old goalkeeper pulled off a string of excellent saves in the first half to keep Dale in the game and continued his fine form into the second half.
Brown says Wade was deserving of the accolade.
“He, without a shadow of a doubt, deserved the man of the match. I thought he was our best player on the pitch by a long stretch and he kept us in it with some outstanding saves. We saw in his performance what we’ve been asking him to work on and I thought he was top drawer.”
Rochdale return to league action on Saturday, with a trip to Fleetwood Town.
“Every Saturday is an opportunity for us to gain points but also for us to perform.
“We’ve got to think about what we’re actually here for and that’s to get the players out on the first team pitch. Performances have got to be good and if they are then usually it gets us the win because of the quality we’ve got in the dressing room.
"Saturday is going to be a big game, and fingers crossed we can sweep Wednesday night’s performance under the carpet and go again, but that we can also learn from our mishaps during the week.”
Watch the full interview on Dale PlayerHD.