Manager Keith Hill says Calvin Andrew’s last minute winner against Port Vale will stay with him for the rest of his career.
Rochdale kept their play-off dream alive on Easter Monday thanks to the stoppage time goal, sparking brilliant celebrations at Spotland.
A jubilant Hill believes Dale “are right back in it” with six games to go.
“That feeling – wow,” said Hill in his post-match interview. “You wait footballing careers for that type of feeling. As a Manager, that’s probably the best feeling I’ve tasted.
“The game was meandering and going nowhere and it wasn’t a great spectacle. We’re down on numbers and we’re trying to come up with a plan to win games.
“I thought it was nil-nil all over, so it was just absolutely brilliant. The emotion at the end – wow! You can’t bottle it and it drives you forward because you’re always searching for a better moment than that. It is a drug, there’s no question about that. Football is a drug because of the emotion – the highs and the lows and the in-betweens that you get.
“We were looking and staring at the rest of the season as an in-between six games but we’re right back in it within the space of Calvin Andrew scoring that goal and wow, it’s superb!”
Andrew celebrated with fans in the Main Stand and was joined by his team-mates as well as Assistant Manager Chris Beech, while Keith Hill couldn’t hide his emotion in the dug-out.
“I was looking for Beechy but he was down the touchline celebrating – so was Bastien and so was Josh Lillis and you can understand why,” laughed Hill.
“It was like your season, which you’ve been working towards, including today, all changes on that moment. Careers are made on moments and that moment of Calvin Andrew scoring that goal will stay with me for the rest of my career, no matter what happens for the remainder of the season.
“We’ve still got an opportunity to at least challenge Chesterfield for that sixth spot. But not just Chesterfield, there’s Barnsley, Fleetwood and a couple of others as well.
“It’s full throttle again and hopefully by the end of this week going into the Doncaster and the Swindon games, I’ll have Jamie Allen and Matty Lund back in the squad.
“I don’t think Oliver Lancashire, Scott Tanser and Joe Bunney will be too far away so we’re looking healthy going into the last six games of the season.
“59 points and 18 wins in League One - I’m really pleased.”
The full interview is on Dale Player.