Manager Keith Hill reflects on his side's defeat to Oxford United, Dale's first loss at the Crown Oil Arena in 12 league matches...
“It hasn’t been a great week, if I’m being perfectly honest with you," said Hill. "We had picked a totally different side yesterday, so coming into the game was very difficult.
“We had two injuries yesterday and both players were playing.
“I understand the no cohesion to the way that we played but you’re hoping after 20-25 minutes that the players grow into the game pattern.
“A lot of those players haven’t played on a regular basis when you consider Andy Cannon, Jamie Allen, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Scott Tanser.
“We were enforced into making changes and I’m expecting it to be a little bit bitty, if you like, but the mistakes that we’ve made today are disappointing.
“It’s a game that we’ll put in isolation, and I’ve said that to the players. It has been a hard week which has been compounded by a terrible day at the office, but that’s all it is.
“We’ll grow again, and I’ve learned about the players again today. There seemed to be a lack of energy to the way that we played, and if I’m being perfectly honest with you, the pitch didn’t play well either.”
He continued: “I can’t and I won’t beat the players up. I don’t feel as though I need to.
“I’m a lot of players down so I’m asking players who haven’t played on a regular basis to respond to losing the likes of Steven Davies, Matty Lund, Oliver Rathbone, Joe Thompson, Josh Lillis, and Keith Keane today when he was out.
“Like anybody, we have to respond better to the injuries that we’ve received this week. But it has been difficult - if we had received these injuries on Monday then the planning would have been a lot easier. At least two of those players were playing at this point yesterday, and I’ve had to change it very quickly, so there wasn’t that continuity.
“But I think the players who played today benefited playing today.”
Watch the full interview on Dale PlayerHD.