Manager Robbie Stockdale on Dale’s 1-0 defeat to Oldham Athletic at the Crown Oil Arena…
“I’m really frustrated. It’s a painful result for us, without a shadow of a doubt,” said the Gaffer in his post-match interview.
“I don’t think we deserved to lose the game but we didn’t play at our best. Some of our players weren’t quite at the standard that they set themselves up until now. The endeavour was there, that was clear, but just that bit of quality that we needed at certain moments of the game wasn’t quite what we needed and what we required.
“I’ll watch the game again. Oldham came and did a bit of a job on us but we still got into some really good areas. The system that we’re playing at the moment - our difference makers have been really good, but today we just weren’t quite sharpest.
“But, saying that, we dominated a lot of the stats apart from obviously the obvious one - the scoreline. We hit the bar and the post and the ‘keeper has made a really good save in the top corner, but, other than that, we’re a little bit disappointed in the way that we played.”
The Boss says they won’t get too low in defeat, like they don’t get too high in victory but admits the result hurts.
“Within the building, we weren’t getting too carried away with ourselves with the good run that we had been on either - we take every game in isolation. I think it hurts more because it’s our local rivals and obviously the fans want the bragging rights, but we’ll take it and we’ll learn from it.
“We were very young today. We were trying to freshen it up with a few bodies and that’ll be a learning curve for them as well. We’re not panicking or anything like that, it’s just a really disappointing evening.”
There were four changes to the side that lined up against Burnley midweek in the Carabao Cup, as Joel Coleman, Alex Newby, George Broadbent and Sam Graham all came into the side.
“It was just freshening it up a little bit. I contemplated making more changes to start with, but even from the Burnley game through to today, the recovery was great.
“You always pick a team that you think can do a job and win, but nothing against those boys, it’s a team collective - we win together and we lose together.”
And Stockdale says they’ll use the hurt from Saturday as the side prepare for next weekend’s game against Bradford City.
“We use the hurt and the disappointment to fuel us. It’s one game in isolation. It’s a painful one, but it is one game in isolation. We’ve got to use that hurt to spur us on. We’re still looking a good team. Listen, there are no dramas, but I understand that everyone is going to be really disappointed tonight as we are.”
Watch the Gaffer’s post-match interview in full on our YouTube channel.