Assistant Manager Chris Beech spoke to Dale PlayerHD following Rochdale's Lancashire Senior Cup tie against Manchester United on Wednesday evening.
Dale exited the competition after a 3-2 defeat at Ewen Fields.
United opened up a two goal advantage within the first 20 minutes of the game, before Lewis Alessandra pulled on back for Dale on the stroke of half time.
Ashley Fletcher netted his hattrick a minute after the break from spot, after United were awarded a controversial penalty. Despite the early set-back, the second half belonged to Rochdale. Michael Rose converted a spot-kick shortly after the hour mark, but the excellent Dean Henderson was on hand with two fine saves to compliment his resolute defence to deny Rochdale at least a draw.
“Their goalkeeper has pulled off two really good saves,” said Beech as he reflected on the second half performance.
“We put a lot of pressure on Manchester United’s back line and you can see that 11 players were banked in their own half, so from that point of view, finishing the game strong was very good.
“However, the first half from our point of view was very disappointing - the goals we conceded were very poor. There’s a massive debate around their third goal and whether or not contact was made with the football - from our point of view it wasn’t a penalty. They of course got the penalty and Fletcher put it away very well.”
He continued: “Tony [Ellis] talked to the players at half time. There weren’t enough players breaking lines from an attacking point of view. There was sloppiness in our passing and our possession, and there was a reluctance to get body contact on the turn-over of the football. We looked to address them and I think overall the team did that. They applied them processes in the second half and got more out of the game.
“We can’t protect the players from their first half display in terms of the goals we conceded, but we can definitely support them in the way they went about the second half.”
The full interview is available to view on Dale PlayerHD.