Jim McNulty on Dale’s 3-0 win over Walsall…
“I’m happy with the goal and I’m happy with the win but I’m happy with the clean sheet more than anything, if I’m honest,” said McNulty.
“For a time out there in the second half, I had feelings of previous seasons at Rochdale where we’ve been quite a devastating team when in front and when we always looked like we could get more. This season, we haven’t gone on and killed teams off when we’ve been in front but tonight felt like days gone by.
“I felt like we were in a good groove tonight, and I felt like we were a team that belies our position in the league.
“Everything came together. Josh was fantastic in key moments when we needed him. I thought we defended well and looked quite comfortable. In the centre of the pitch, I thought Andy Cannon was brilliant and so was Campsy again, and then front three provided a threat throughout. The subs have played their part, too.”
McNulty opened the scoring at the Banks’s Stadium with his first ever goal for Rochdale, heading home from a Bradden Inman corner, before Ian Henderson doubled Dale’s tally and Alex Dobre marked his debut with a wonderful solo goal.
The defender reckons Dobre’s goal will be amongst the contenders for EFL Goal of the Season.
“I’m not too sure that you’re going to see too many better goals this year. I’d imagine that will be up there with EFL goals of the season.
“It was pretty special. He basically played like a play maker, bouncing it around off three or four of our players and then he decided to pirouette like Maradona, switched onto his left foot, which took him past a couple of players, and then he smashed it in emphatically. I’ve just watched it back there, because I thought ‘I need to see this goal back again’. I score probably the best header I’m ever going to score and then it goes and gets shown up by one of the EFL goals of the season.”
Dale are on the road again at the weekend, facing Rotherham United at the New York Stadium. McNulty hopes the players can take Tuesday’s performance into Saturday.
“Cup and league form combined over the last six or seven games, I actually think performances have been very good. Results have started to turn a little bit and we hope we can do something special at this stage of season.
“We owe the manager and we owe the fans, who were here again tonight, despite it not being a great journey to make on a Tuesday night. Rotherham is a massive game and I hope we can go there and replicate tonight’s performance.”
Watch the full eight minute interview on iFollow.