Manager Keith Hill reflects on Dale’s 3-0 defeat to Swindon Town, his side’s first loss in ten matches…
“We didn’t turn up,” he told Dale PlayerHD.
“I don’t know if it was a hangover from Saturday against Bury, did we leave the energy on the pitch? Should I have picked a different side?
“We know what we needed to do against Swindon and we didn’t do it in the first half.
“There could have been more goals in the first half because we weren’t being responsible for closing down and marking players, and those are important elements to the way we do things.
“We will allow the opposition to have more possession than us in games like this, but we have to close down and we have to accept responsibility. We didn’t do that until we made the changes at half time, [when Andy Cannon and Oliver Rathbone replaced Steven Davies and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing].
“The changes were definitely positive and they made a difference. We needed energy on the pitch and we got it.
“We had a golden opportunity to get back into the game but the ‘keeper has made a great save [from the penalty]. We could have scored a few in the second half but fair credit to the opposition, because I thought they were excellent.
“It’s just one of those games that got away from us from the first whistle, and unfortunately you get nights like that. I’ve got to make sure that I don’t over analyse and that I’m not too critical, and that I accept it and move on.”
The full interview is on Dale PlayerHD.