Manager Keith Hill is encouraged despite defeat
Rochdale left Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium empty handed on Saturday as the home side took all three points with a 3-1 win.
In a first half dominated by Dale, the Cobblers opened the scoring through Clive Platt shortly after the half hour. Rochdale went on to level proceedings on 64 minutes, but the home side responded almost immediately to regain the lead. Aidy Boothroyd’s side added their third of the afternoon from the spot fifteen minutes from time.
Manager Keith Hill gave his thoughts to Dale Player after the game.
“We’re on the right track and I can’t get de-railed by the result,” said Hill. “There are a lot of good things that I’m witnessing and a lot of tell-tale signs that the players are improving and sticking to the plan.
“There is obviously improvement needed on certain areas of the pitch but it’s encouraging and you can’t be down beat. Like I said, I won’t be de-railed by the result because a lot of the performance and the chances we created were a sign of what we’re trying to achieve on the training pitch, so with respect to that, I’m relatively pleased, but I am disappointed that we got beat and by the manner that we got beat.
“We worked exceptionally hard to get back into the game and when we got back into the game they score from the next attack. It’s the cardinal sin and it lacks concentration and that is what we are trying to improve on – the concentration levels in and out of possession. It’s a goal we shouldn’t be conceding, especially when we’ve just regained parity in the game. I believe it’s a performance where we didn’t deserve to be beaten.”