Donervon Daniels has told iFollow that the players will take the positives from Dale’s goalless draw against Oxford United into the festive period.
Rochdale dominated the game against the U's at the Crown Oil Arena and forced Simon Eastwood into a number of good stops, but couldn’t break the deadlock.
Daniels was disappointed they couldn’t take all three points, but was pleased with the performance and the clean sheet.
“It was a solid performance from the whole team,” said Daniels.
“The whole team got the clean sheet today and worked extremely hard from a defensive point of view to bounce back from last week’s disappointing result away from home at Bradford, but we were at home and we wanted the three points to push up the table.
“I think the performance today warranted three points, but Oxford were resilient and they defended our set plays strongly, so it was a bit frustrating in the end.
“Words can’t even tell you how hard we’ve been working in training - the Gaffer has remained patient with us. The onus was on all the boys that were selected today, and we’re disappointed not to win at home in front of our fans, especially after a performance like that.”
Dale have a week now until they face Walsall at the Crown Oil Arena, a game which begins a run of four league matches in nine days.
“We start with a good point today and we’ve got to build on it as we go into Walsall next week and then straight into Boxing Day.
“The Christmas period is really tough on the group, because of the amount of games, but I believe today’s performance will help us over that period.
“We’ve worked hard throughout the week, and even going back to the performances before the Bradford game, I feel like we had a solid shape and we’ve always been strong as a unit.
“I saw the Bradford game as a blip and today’s performance reassured me that we’ll be strong as long as we stay as a group of players.”
Daniels is enjoying a run of games in the Dale defence, and is enjoying his spell in the team.
“I’ve had to be patient. There was already a back four in place when I came in and they were doing well. I feel like I’ve done well in games and in training to warrant a run of games.”
You can watch the full interview on iFollow.