Manager Robbie Stockdale reflects on Dale’s 1-0 pre-season friendly win over AFC Fylde…
“It was nice to win. Results aren’t the most important thing but I think it’s important that we start to get that mentality, and really pleased with the clean sheet,” said the Gaffer.
“Technically and tactically I wasn’t overly fussed today - I know that sounds strange but it was more about the attitude. I was worried that we had raised our game with a new manager coming in, playing against teams from higher divisions, and I wondered if that was a subconscious thing with the players but I don’t think it was.
“I wasn’t questioning the application. All I was thinking was that Fylde were playing a team higher in the football pyramid and what kind of test would that give us, and we really stood up to it. It was a really physical game.
“We probably didn’t get it quite right with our pressing at times and didn’t quite get the work with the ball, but we showed a different side. You can’t play great every single game and the most important thing when you’re not playing brilliantly is to keep a clean sheet because you’ll always get a chance in the game, and probably the one real quality moment in the game was for us when we scored the goal from it.
“It was tough today. We’ve worked the players really hard during the week again. It was a sticky pitch here and it was windy, but the attitude was great. The attitude to keep the clean sheet and attitude win and see the game through was good.”
Watch the Gaffer’s post-match interview in full on our YouTube channel below.