A deflated Manager Keith Hill spoke to the Dale PlayerHD after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Northampton Town…
Rochdale were forced to settle for a point after the visitors levelled the scoring deep in injury time.
Hill commented: “The players have given everything and they’ve left everything out on the pitch today. It’s a lapse in concentration but there’s no point in harbouring on it too long.
“The lads are really disappointed. They’re floored, as you can imagine.
“When I’m without Joe Bunney, Keith Keane & Niall Canavan, then I feel as though we’ve done well today. It’s testament to the players how hard they’ve worked and what they’ve left out on the pitch.
“I thought the lads had done enough and there’s no point in bullet pointing mistakes and you’ve just got to congratulate them. I congratulated them for the effort they put into the performance in their pursuit of trying to get the three points, and they were so close.”
Dale are back in action at the Crown Oil Arena on Tuesday night, hosting Port Vale, and Hill is looking for a strong performance.
“Like I said, the players are flat and they’re floored, but we’ve got another game on Tuesday and it’s important that we pick ourselves up.
“We know that we’ve got our League One status and we should be really pleased about that. We’re always chasing the dream & we’ll continue to chase it with six games to go.
“I’m worried about the mental and physical fragility of the players now but I’m not willing to throw games away. I don’t want to experiment – I want to field the strongest team to play against the opposition, but I’m also mindful of not forcing injuries on players.
“With the way the lads are working, we should be able to get points here, there and everywhere. Like I said, our number one job in retaining our League One status is done. We’re now going into the next fixture with six games to go and you just never know what’s going to happen.
“I want the players to perform to the standards they’ve already shown this season and not let the supporters down. I don’t want a slow end to the season, where we’re losing games and there’s no performance. I want a little bit of excitement as well.”
Watch the full interview on Dale PlayerHD.