Manager Keith Hill reflects on Dale’s 3-3 draw with Sheffield United at the Crown Oil Arena…
Rochdale twice came from behind to secure a point against the league leaders.
“I thought our performance levels were good against the best team in the league,” said Hill.
“I’m really encouraged with the performance standard today.
“After going 2-0 down, the game could have gone either way, but I was encouraged by our performance before we went 2-0 down. With the way we were playing and the problems we were causing the opposition, I knew that we could potentially turn it around, and to get back to 2-2 was superb.
“For the opposition to change their tactics two or three times shows that Chris and Sheffield United have a lot of respect for us.
“They got something out of the game and so did we, and I think both managers would be disappointed with the score-line but the courage of both sides has to be commended.”
And Hill praised the spirit shown by his players to go on and net a third after Billy Sharp had put the visitors ahead, arguably against the run of play.
“I thought it [Nathaniel Mendez-Laing’s strike] was a fabulous goal. I thought we caused the opposition a lot of problems today, and if I’m being honest, if I look at their major threats – James Hanson and Billy Sharp - I don’t think they were too much of a threat today.
“Billy gets his goal from our possession and he’s the best in the league at converting those types of goals. As a centre-half, you come off the pitch thinking you’ve done well against him, but if you look in the paper the next day, you’ll see that he’s scored the winning the goal, the equaliser or a hat-trick, and he does that on a regular basis. He never goes away – he sticks in there and that’s why he’s the best in this division.”
Watch the full interview on Dale PlayerHD.