Assistant Manager Chris Beech gives his thoughts on Dale’s dramatic stoppage time win over Doncaster Rovers at the Crown Oil Arena…
“We’ve been fighting for four-and-a-half years so we’re not giving anything up at any stage of the game," said Beech.
“To gain a win from the hands of defeat when the rain is coming down, the conditions are horrendous, the crowd have become unsettled towards the end, and for the players to respond, stick to task and give everything they’ve got in those conditions, makes me very proud to be Assistant Manager representing a result with the lads and the staff because we deserved the three points.
“For us to go against them and fight as hard as we did, it’s nice to be on the right side of the line with the three points.
“It should mean a lot to everyone associated with the club. It’s great that the supporters come out on a night like this – especially with the weather and the fact that there’s Champions League football on the TV. It’s great to see them out and it’s important that they support the players right through, because we have no divine right to be in League One.”
After going behind in the 74th minute, Dale mounted a stunning comeback in added time.
Mark Kitching produced a stunning volley to draw Rochdale level, before Davies stole in at the far post to score a dramatic winner in front of the Sandy Lane.
“I’d love to say Kitch does that every day in training but he doesn’t,” laughed Beech.
“Any good striker will keep getting into the six-yard box and Steve’s in the right place to capitalise at the end.
“He’s skipped past Andy Butler and there’s good contact from Harrison McGahey to get across the screen for the delivery, which enables Steve to get in on his left foot from three yards and he ain’t missing from there.”
And with players starting to return from injury and illness, Beech can see light at the end of the tunnel.
“The squad is coming back together now – it was only a week ago when there were nine players missing. Nine players missing out of the size of our squad is horrendous, because not only are they not available for the game, it means you also can’t have consistent training and preparation for matches.
“We’ve had a lot of difficulties going into matches, just for simple things like illness, late injury, and even tonight we’ve prepared with the team that we wanted to start and we had a little bit of a blip due to horrendous traffic, with one of the players arriving slightly late, but we’re getting on top of all the little things that matter and the decks are clearing.
“The changing rooms and the conditions of the football club are getting highly disinfected. We’ve got a plan with the players for gelling their hands etc and the players who have been ill have been getting an extra day off, because it’s important that we don’t cross contaminate each other.
“We’ve managed to get some of the missing lads back on the training pitch and now we’re looking to gain consistency from what is an absolutely tremendous result.”
Watch the full interview on iFollow.