Assistant Manager Chris Beech has been reflecting on the Easter Monday win over Bristol Rovers, as well as looking ahead to Saturday’s final home game of the season against Cheltenham Town.
Dale are on the brink of promotion to League One and they can achieve that on Saturday should they better Fleetwood's result.
Beech told Dale Player: “To reset so quickly and play so well at Bristol Rovers was excellent. The scoreline didn’t reflect the quality, the confidence, the control and the performance. Especially going a goal down on the back of the previous two results, the players really stuck to task and believed in what we asked them to do and like Keith said after the game, the players fully deserved credit for that performance – they were excellent.
“The season so far has been everything – it has been brilliant. It has been a journey, development for both the individuals in a team and the team itself. The team represents the community and the town very well, I think. It’s got high energy, it’s committed to task and it wants to achieve. That’s built from within and it’s in everybody. It’s not just the players, it’s not just the staff, it has also been the supporters and their support, even the Brandon’s Beard campaign in November. It has been everything and that has been integral to our success on the pitch. It has been viral and we’re looking for that support against Cheltenham like we’ve had all season."
He continued: "We’ll prepare correctly to go out and do what we want to do in the game, and we know that the people who are with us and have been sharing them experiences all season are right behind that – the players know that. I think there has been a great link between players and supporters through social media and I think it has been really good this season. But at the end of the day we’ve got to break it down to the basic elements of what it is – it’s a game of football where we need to do what we’ve done all season. That’s run hard, use our brain, and go against a well organised and very good team in Cheltenham Town.
“We can’t control things that aren’t in and around our ground, at times you can’t control things that are going on in the game. All we can do is look to gain control and stick to task. We’re looking for the players to really enjoy the moment and stay strong against pressure and express themselves with that fluid movement. Some of the quality of football this season has been brilliant and it has been getting a lot of accolades, obviously with the cup run as well, and we want it to mean something. We want it to mean something for everybody – for the players, for our family, for ourselves and most definitely for the supporters. We’re really looking forward to the next two opportunities to show that.”
The full interview is on Dale Player.