Manager Brian Barry-Murphy reflects on Dale’s 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers, as his side extend their unbeaten run to four.
Alex Newby scored Rochdale’s goal after timing his run perfectly to latch on the end of a ball over the top from Eoghan O’Connell and fire beyond Anssi Jaakkola in the Gas net.
“I thought it was a good game. From our point of view, it was a very satisfying result and a culmination of a very satisfactory return over the course of the month,” said BBM.
“[It was a] brilliant goal. I thought our play in terms of creativity was very good. The balance between keeping the ball and penetrating the opposition’s back line was evident in that move, and we’re starting to see real moments of belief from Alex in the final third supported by Jake [Beesley].
“To be honest, when I saw him go through on goal similarly to Shrewsbury, I thought there was only going to be one outcome. He’s a hugely exciting talent to work with going forward for us this season.”
And the Boss praised his players for continuing their attacking prowess right until the end.
“I thought we were so brave in the way we played right until the final whistle. Bristol Rovers are a good team – they’re technically a top team in this league and are going to show that this season. Their major threat was on the counter-attack so I’ve no problem with that and our recoveries were amazing in terms of defending our own goal. Right until the end, I thought we would only need one moment to score.
“We as a group never complain about decisions but Tolaji [Bola] was clearly brought down in the box and that was a penalty. Eoghan should probably should score but we can’t control those moments we can only hope those penalties are given.”
Jimmy Ryan went off early in the second half through injury and BBM confirmed that he had to withdraw due to an ankle problem.
“Jimmy has had an issue with his ankle over quite a long period of time, since pre-season, and something happened in the first half that triggered that again, so he’s probably going to be a doubt for Tuesday night. As I’ve spoken about previously, every game is a worry as every player is putting so much into this and with the size of our squad, we are vulnerable to those situations.”
Watch the full interview on iFollow.