Manager Keith Hill spoke to Dale PlayerHD following his side’s 6-1 defeat to Barnsley at Oakwell…
“It’s going to take me quite a while to summarise.
“We conceded an early goal, which I thought was against the run of play, because I thought we started quite well.
“Again, I think it was a very similar game to the one we witnessed at the end of last season when we got beat 5-0.
“I think there was a 20 minute period of the second half where it was like, as Stuart [Dale PlayerHD commentator] said, a batting collapse. I don’t understand why – I’m still mystified and a little bit miffed.
“Hopefully and eventually as time progresses we can put it into isolation. And I hope that we don’t get too much self-doubt because score-lines like that can really hurt you as a player and as a football club.
“If you look at the league one fixtures today that’s a stand out wow. You’ve got to give credit to Barnsley, but I do liken it, as Stuart referred to, as a batting collapse.
“It’s difficult to understand why and how. I don’t think it’s down to a lack of effort or application. I think a lot of individual and team mistakes happen in the last 20 minutes and it’s such a shame.
“I don’t want that to be a carry on for the remainder of the season because we’ve got 20 games left to play and they’re good games for us to play in.
“Hopefully I’ll look back and I'll be able to put today’s result in isolation, but at this time as manager I’m concerned by that collapse and the difference between the two sides during that 20/30 minutes towards the end of the game.
“As concerned as I am, I'm still excited for the remainder of the season.”
He continued: “For me, it’s a funny situation to be in because if I hit the lads with a hammer now I’m not going to get a response from them – they’re already down.
“There’s no point in me hammering the boys - I’ve got to support them. But I don’t expect that type of collapse. I’ve never had that of collapse where I’ve conceded six. It was a difficult game to manage and I’ve got to find the right conclusions from the game and bounce into next week.
“It’s very hurtful for me at this moment in time and I know it is for the supporters.
"The thing is with anger, you shouldn’t be angry for a long time – you’ve got to turn that anger into a positive strength and you've got to come out fighting but anger can be mis-lead.
“We have to have aggression but I think it’s now time for everybody to pull together even more because we don’t want what happened today to be a continuation of the season.”
The full interview is on Dale PlayerHD.