Brian Barry-Murphy thought his side put in a “brilliant” second-half display in Saturday’s defeat at Burton Albion but was disappointed with the opening period.
Despite taking the lead after just two minutes through Callum Camps’ strike, the Dale boss felt his side allowed Burton back into the game.
However, he praised his players for their second-half display.
“I thought we were brilliant in the second-half and played well for large parts of it,” said Barry-Murphy.
“The performance had a real imprint of the way we like to do things with great speed, great courage and I was very happy with it.
“We were aggressive and on the front foot. There was a real burst of energy with the way we played.
“I was disappointed with the way we played in the first-half really. We got our goal having started the game really brightly, but from then on, we didn’t play with the intensity, the speed or the aggressive nature that I would associate with us.
“I thought we let Burton take the game to us and we almost took a step back. The first-half was very disappointing, and whilst the second-half was good, it isn’t good enough for us to accept that. We always want more from our players.
“I just thought that in the first-half we were a little bit passive and not on the front foot. So, it was good to see that in the second-half and is what I would expect to see from us.”
The Dale boss also offered an injury update on Ian Henderson and Aaron Morley who missed the game, and Ollie Rathbone who had to be withdrawn during the first-half.
“Ollie had a slight problem with his groin, which is a different injury to what he’s had before. He’s just at that stage of the season where he’s having problems with his physical conditioning.
“Whilst we try to get him back, we have to be mindful of the fact that we have to protect him, and we just couldn’t take any chances with him having been absent for so long.
“Ian had a dead leg after the challenge on Monday night and they can be quite sore. He was in no fit state to be involved today, but he’s made a lot of progress in the last couple of days, so heading into Thursday and the weekend, he should be close to being in contention.
“Aaron had a slight issue with his thigh in training on Thursday and it was just a slight fatigue after the game on Monday night, which was on a heavy pitch and it took our lads a few days to recover from that. I don’t like to make excuses but I thought there were elements of the first-half that had a reflection on that and it was good to see us look a lot fresher in the second-half.”
The full interview is available to watch on iFollow HERE.