Manager Brian Barry-Murphy reflects on Dale’s 4-1 defeat to MK Dons at the Crown Oil Arena…
“It was a very difficult evening for us,” said BBM.
“The contrast between our first half and second half display was pretty significant and we didn’t deal well with conceding the goals during the second half spell.
“I thought our reaction to that was disappointing and again contrasted to the first half where we bounced back pretty well from, again, the concession of an early goal and played some really good football in the first half.
“I felt that we were unlucky not to go into half-time in front but, from my point of view, we were outplayed in all areas in the second half.”
He continued: “When you’re hit with conceding three goals in quick succession it can be hard psychologically to deal with and to respond to that.
“We felt very much in the ascendancy at half-time and thought we were going to go on and win the game, but that didn’t materialise early in the second half and we didn’t respond to those quick goals well, and, as such, I felt as though the game petered away from us. MK Dons are a very technical team who can do that to you and in the end they were too good for us on the night.”
Eoghan O’Connell was forced off through injury in the first half and the Boss provided an update on the skipper.
“Eoghan got a bang on his calf. I don’t think there’s anything majorly significant but he had quite a lot of swelling in there and he couldn’t continue, so I had to make that change and bring him off, which has been a trend this season in terms of losing key players at different times. But I wouldn’t use that to hide away from what was a disappointing night for us.”
Watch BBM’s interview in full on iFollow Dale.