Manager John Coleman has been reflecting on the Boxing Day defeat at Burton Albion, and ahead to Saturday’s encounter against Bradford City at the Coral Windows Stadium.
“It [the 3-2 loss at the Pirelli Stadium] sums up a lot of our games. They’re up in the air and they can go either way, but recently they have gone against us. We could easily have won that game or lost it, which we did, and there is no disguising the fact that we’re not defending properly as a team and that is something that has got to be addressed.”
He continued: “Every game we play we expect to be tough, but what annoys us is when we don’t make it tough for the opposition. We made it tough for Bradford when we played them at home and we were down to ten men for long periods. We defended magnificently that night and I hope that we can do the same tomorrow."
Rochdale have taken points off six out of the seven top teams in the table, including a win at Gillingham and a draw at Port Vale, and Coleman hopes that bodes well for Saturday: “I hope we continue in the same vein of form but you can’t guarantee anything in football. The one thing we’ve spoken about is trying to guarantee that we give it our best. If we give it our best and work as hard as we can do then we know we will be a success and that’s what we’re hoping to on Saturday.”
Terry Gornell is available for selection after serving a three match ban, and while scoring goals has not been a problem for Dale in his absence, Coleman admits having his all his attacking options available is a boost: “I don’t think it is any coincidence that we’re scoring lots of goals this season because we have got good forwards, but we’ve got to be able to turn those goals into wins.”