PDP Lead Coach Chris Brown reflects on Rochdale’s exit from the FA Youth Cup…
Dale bowed out of the competition on Tuesday night following a 1-0 defeat away at Accrington Stanley.
“It’s disappointing to go out,” Brown told iFollow.
“Our overall quality in the game was poor, and we didn’t commit to scoring or forcing chances.
“Accrington were very hard to break down and they sat in and made it very difficult for us. They’ve countered and scored a goal, which rocked us a little bit.
“We did create some good opportunities, particularly in the second half, but not enough. The ball was always going through to their goalkeeper who had strong game in the air, and we didn’t really work it out and learn why we weren’t scoring.
“The performance was very unlike the lads in terms of the way we were attacking and our mind set and mentality from the start of the game, which in recent weeks has been very, very good. We played Accrington 10 days ago and we were excellent on a very difficult pitch, beating them 5-2.
“We were quite negative and naïve in our goal threat and decision making tonight, so Accrington have gone through and done well after sticking to their game plan.
“We’ve not done enough in the 90 minutes to win the game.”
Dale travel to Doncaster Rovers in the EFL Youth Alliance Cup on Saturday and Chris Brown hopes the side will get back to performing to the levels he knows they are capable of.
“Preparation for the weekend’s game will be more of a psychological one rather than a physical one.
“The lads are fit, but they need to have the psychology of being more ruthless and committed, and making sure that we’re aggressive in the final third in order to score goals, as well as repeating the things that we’ve been doing in recent weeks but didn’t do tonight.”
Watch the full interview on iFollow.