PDP Lead Coach Chris Brown was pleased with how the Youth Team adapted to the pitch and conditions in their 2-0 win over Carlisle United.
Goals from Harrison Hopper and Fabio Tavares secured Dale’s sixth successive win in all competitions, and a win in one of their games in hand in the EFL Youth Alliance League.
“The game, from a spectator’s point of view, was quite an ugly one,” said Brown.
“There wasn’t much possession, the ball was out of play a lot, and the pitch probably lent itself to that.
“Considering the lads started at around half five in the morning, it’s a really good win on the road. It’s a performance winning ugly, and some days you’re going to get that.
“We competed well and defended superbly well. I don’t think our goalkeeper had a save to make.
“Hopefully next time out we can play some more football, because the pitch lent itself to how the game went.
“We had to change shape from what we started with. It’s good that they adapted – they don’t usually play like that.
“We got a few things wrong but usually we won the second balls, we made contact on the second press, we competed, we tried to do the right things and tried to play forwards, and we threw it down the line which we don’t usually do.
“So it was a little bit different for the lads, but they adapted well and they’ve come away with a good 2-0 win.”
In a game of few chances, Dale were clinical in taking their chances, securing another important three points.
“There wasn’t really that many chances in the game. Tactically we had to change, we had to change personnel as well to get a foothold in the game.
“I think people were a little bit annoyed in the changing rooms, but I had to make sure we were doing things collectively as a team.
“It’s a difficult place to come to with the early start, and we did what we had to do. If you look at the performance as a whole, it was from our perspective because we got three points.”