Niall Canavan, who opened the scoring in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Southend United, spoke to Dale PlayerHD after the game…
“As a centre-half, I don’t think it gets much better,” said Canavan as he commented on the win, his goal and a clean sheet.
“It’s nice to get the defensive work going solid, because that’s three clean sheets in the last four games [in all competitions].
“And I was well overdue a goal so it was nice to get one. Joe [Bunney] has put a great ball in again and I’ve just stuck it in the back of the net.”
Saturday’s win was Dale’s sixth on the bounce in all competitions and Canavan says there was always a belief that results would come after Dale had failed to win any of their first seven league matches.
“I don’t think too much has changed really, apart from maybe that little bit of belief that we got from the first win, and that can snowball.
“The games we played before that were all quite tight and narrow defeats. We had faith that things would turn around for us and now that results have turnaround, hopefully we can keep the momentum going.
“Now, it’s about not getting complacent or arrogant, and taking that onto the pitch on a Saturday.”
It’s derby day at the Crown Oil Arena on Saturday, as Dale host Bury. Canavan says the players are aware of how important the fixture is for supporters.
“The Gaffer has just said in there [in the dressing room after Saturday’s game] that we should be under no illusions that Saturday will be the biggest game of the season so far for the supporters.
“We’ve got to get things right in training this week and make sure we’ve got a plan in place to go and put a performance in on Saturday.”
The full interview is on Dale PlayerHD.