Manager Brian Barry-Murphy reflects on Dale’s League One fixture away at Ipswich Town…
Dale went down to a 2-0 defeat, despite a spirited performance at Portman Road, and the Boss is taking plenty of positives from the display.
“I thought we very good,” said BBM.
“We put on a performance that made me feel very excited about the group of players. We had chances throughout the game and looked like scoring. I thought we could score at any moment throughout. We obviously didn’t manage to do that, but that wasn’t through a lack of effort or a lack of numbers in the box, it was just the final little bit that just didn’t fall our way.
“Ipswich had a couple of moments in our box where they scored, but in terms of the performance, effort and skill level of our lads, I thought we were pretty exceptional.
“As I said in my pre-match notes, the perception is that we’ve got to go to these grounds and almost feel as if we’re lucky to be here, but the message to the lads is that we want to take people on and we want to be as aggressive and courageous as we can be, and that was evident throughout today.
“We had good chances throughout the game that we didn’t manage to take, and Ipswich had good moments because they’re a top team, but we managed them pretty well, I thought, and kept them to pretty few. I’m disappointed for the lads that we didn’t manage to get the result that we felt our performance deserved.
“It’s a very positive performance. I’m not trying to hoodwink anyone into thinking that we’re happy losing, because we’re not. There’s a way that we want to do things and that was the way today. We were on the front foot for large parts of the game and in control possession wise and we defended resolutely when we had to. All facets of the game were covered today, we just didn’t get the result we felt that we deserved, but we won’t let it detract from a positive day for the Club moving forward.”
Jake Beesley, who joined the Club on Thursday, made his Dale debut in the match and got 88 minutes under his belt.
BBM was pleased with his performance and believes that the forward is already building a good understanding on the pitch with the likes of Alex Newby.
“It was typical of him, really. I thought he [Jake] led the line immaculately. He had one day of training with us and has had a little pre-season training with Solihull, so we’re asking him if he’s okay playing but he almost wouldn’t let you not play him - he understood that we were really stretched and that the squad is thread bare in that department. I thought he looked dangerous and his movement in the box was pretty good. Every time there was a ball in wide areas, I thought that Jake could score. He didn’t manage to do that today but he will in the future.
“It [Beesley and Newby’s partnership] is a little bit symbolic of where we are a Club. Alex coming from Chorley and Jake coming from Solihull, they are both looking to prove people wrong and prove to people that they can do it in this league. We all know that they can and they will. That’s very relevant for us at the moment because we’re very excited about these guys going forward.
“We will be distracted by the result because we’re all desperate to win and the lads are crest fallen there for a few minutes, but I just have to remind them about how hard they’ve worked this week and at the end of it to put everything into practice in the game, it’s critical that I don’t get distracted by the fine margins that decided this game and that I look at the overall picture. These guys are desperate to win games and play a certain way for the Club and they will do, they did today.”
Watch the Boss’ full interview on iFollow.