Manager Keith Hill reflects on Dale’s 2-1 win over Gateshead in the first round of the Emirates FA Cup…
“From a mental point of view, yes [2-0 was a dangerous scoreline],” said Hill.
“We showed a lot of energy in the first-half trying to break the opponents down and when we did, it was as though we went into cruise control, which is very dangerous.
“Where we normally have a lot of energy, we didn’t seem to show that same type of energy that gets us our success. But fair credit to the opposition, I thought they responded well to being 2-0 down but I can’t believe we almost went on auto-pilot, and it nearly cost us.
“We’re through, we got the result and we scored two goals, the second goal was superb, but too many players were off colour today.
“I tried to pre-warn the players at half-time [about not going into cruise control, but we fell into the trap. Regardless of whatever trap we fell into, our ‘keeper has got to save that shot, no question about it.
“He’s lucky in the first-half when he gets away with a miss-timed pass. The goalkeepers are causing me consternation at this moment in time, because regardless of what the opposition do in the second-half with respect to getting into our final third, I can’t remember Brendan [Moore] making a real honest, unbelievable match winning save. He has actually given them a lifeline.
“I’ve got to give credit to the opponents, the way they took the game to us in the second-half. They should have been dead and buried with respect to what I expect from my team but I didn’t get it. Again, I am really not happy with the goalkeeping situation at all.
“Potentially [I’ll have to look at making a change], I’ll see who trains well this week. I was disappointed with Magnus during the week – I could have saved the two goals that went in. I’m going into the unknown, no-one is really saying ‘pick me’, but what goes in Brendan’s favour is the current run of form that we’re on. We’re winning games and not losing them. Since he’s been in the side, we’ve only lost the game at Wycombe.”
Watch the full interview on iFollow.