Manager Robbie Stockdale on Dale’s 1-1 draw with Mansfield Town at the One Call Stadium…
“Frustrating, really frustrating,” said the Gaffer when asked for his thoughts on the game.
“I didn’t think we played as well with the ball as we have in previous weeks. I think we had spells in the game where we were very good but I think it’s a really positive sign that we’re frustrated coming away with a draw, so that’s good.
“There were few dubious decisions which didn’t help us a times and I also felt that we got sucked into Mansfield’s style of play, that’s maybe the wrong word, but they certainly made a big fight of it which was great credit to them. But I felt that we just lost our composure a little bit with the ball and if we had carried on doing the good things that we know we can, it would have give us a better chance to win.”
Rochdale went ahead five minutes after the break through Danny Cashman before the Stags equalised in the 72nd minute.
“You’ve got to always think of it as a point gained when you draw away from home so I won’t be daft enough to say that it’s two points lost. But the changing room in there is quite quiet - I think they’re probably feeling similar to me, a bit frustrated. But like I say, we’ve got to take it as really positive sign that we’re coming off after a tough game that we’ve drawn and we think we could have done a little bit better in it.”
After an “average” first half, the Gaffer says he was looking for an improved second half, and was pleased with manner of the goal.
“I thought the first half was average at best from both teams and there wasn’t an awful lot to get excited about. But I spoke to the boys at half-time - I just wanted an improvement in the quality.
“Without the ball we were fine, we defended our goal well. They’re the highest team in terms of statistics for crossing the ball. It’s a really narrow pitch - I’ve not seen a pitch this narrow, ever. That’s what they want to do and I thought we dealt with really well.
“There was one scary moment at the back end of the first half, so at half-time it was just about improving our quality and can we get better with the ball, and I thought we started the second half very well.
“[The goal] is that front foot football that I’m trying to get into the boys. We want to press, we want to be a team on the front foot, so, yeah, Matty did very well closing down and it was a great run from Beesley to take the defender away, which is something we work on, and Danny got a really good pass from Matty and slotted it in.”
Watch the manager's interview in full on our YouTube channel below.