Manager Keith Hill has praised the commitment of his players following Friday night’s well earned point at the JD Stadium.
Dale were dealt two first half blows after top striker Scott Hogan was forced off through injury after just 17 minutes and Ian Henderson was dismissed shortly before the interval for a second bookable offence.
Hill told Dale Player: “It was a superb [point given the circumstances] and I think it was a show of strength. If you can’t win a game you don’t lose it and there was no way that those players were going to sacrifice that game. I know Flicker thinks that Bury should have won it, and I can understand why. There’s a train of thought that once a team goes down to ten men then you really should be taking numerical advantage, but we dealt with most and what we couldn’t deal with, Josh Lillis dealt with.
“I was really pleased with the commitment and the ‘you’re not going to beat us’ attitude from every single one of the players. It was amazing and there was so much honesty in the performance. The local derby can bring up so many emotions and sometimes there’s a lack of thought in that game, but my players were magnificent. Ian Henderson can’t be blamed for us going down to ten men.
“Was it a balanced game in its entirety? Yes, it probably worked out that way and it was a good result for us off the back of a good performance with ten men.”
The full interview is on Dale Player.