Manager Brian Barry-Murphy reflects on Dale's well-earned point from Sunday’s Sky Bet League One fixture against Portsmouth at the Crown Oil Arena…
“I think it’s hard to describe the atmosphere without the supporters, but it felt like a thrilling draw on the side lines,” said BBM.
“It’s hard to believe that it ended 0-0! We felt as if we had clear advantage in the first half and we should have scored goals. We didn’t and, as such, it was inevitable that they had chances in the second half, but we managed to hold out. I’m ecstatic for the players that we got a result in the end because I thought we deserved it.
“Where we want to take this group of lads with the right additions could be an a very exciting group down the line. It’s imperative that I don’t lose sight of that, despite the results early in the season, which can be difficult, but today was a great result.”
He continued: “I thought we were pretty good and we were really courageous in the way we took them on. I said previously that nobody gave us a chance going to Huddersfield or Swindon, and as result of the Huddersfield result, our result against Swindon felt disappointing because we didn’t really play well. But we played well on Tuesday night and lost to Sheffield Wednesday, and today I thought we were pretty good, which is testament to the efforts that the lads are putting in. The only negative is that those efforts can come at a loss, and we saw that with players we lost through injury today.”
“He added: “Stephen Humphrys has damaged his knee. We’re hopeful that it’s not anything major, but I’d suggest that he won’t be available for next week and it’s now a case of getting him scanned and assessed. Eoghan O’Connell is the same.
“I said in my pre-game notes that there were no injuries from Tuesday night which was incorrect – I forget that Yeboah Amankwah was being assessed for his knee his injury – and he’s not going to be available either.
“I’m not trying to be obsessive, but I think the nature of the season is that you get the sense that players are always on the cusp of injury, especially with the make up of our squad. It’s very difficult to protect the while players whilst sacrificing games.”