Manager Robbie Stockdale on Dale’s 0-0 draw with Swindon Town at the Crown Oil Arena…
“You can never dismiss what a good team Swindon are, and I felt we maybe took 20 minutes to settle into the game and get used to their shape, but the boys dug in," said Stockdale.
“It might be a very valuable point but at the same time we caused them some problems at the top end of the pitch as well.
“Whilst it’s fresh in my mind and I’ve just seen it back, Corey O’Keeffe gets two penalties on another day. I’ve just seen both incidents back - one could be given and the second one should be given, so in balance of play we feel a bit aggrieved, but I felt the players left everything out on the pitch again.
“And I thought we were very good in the second half.”
The boss named an unchanged side for the encounter but employed a change of shape.
“We watched Swindon and the way that they play is very expansive.
“Their two eights roll out in the wide positions and we wanted to cover that. Corey played on the midfield line. It looked like a back four out of possession and that was the plan, and the wingers played really high and wide, so that made us not get pushed back into a back five.
“We tweaked it, and it’s something that we do and sometimes it doesn’t get noticed because the same names are seen on the team sheet. But we worked on the game plan and overall I think it worked fairly well.”
And the gaffer was pleased with the clean sheet.
“It’s really important. I can’t stress how important they [clean sheets] are. These [three] games at home - we’re not underestimating the next one - but it [the clean sheets in the last two games] give us a good platform to go and attack that game.”
There’s no mid-week for Dale this week, with the side back in action at the Crown Oil Arena on Saturday (April 9th) against Walsall.
“The players are out on their feet. We’ve obviously picked up key injuries to key personnel.
“Paul Downing made the bench today even though he only trained briefly yesterday, but we felt it was important to cover those positions with him and Jim [McNulty].
“It [no midweek game] gives us chance to, not come off the boys, but we can give the ones who’ve started the majority of the games and had the minutes a little breather, and hopefully recovery properly going into what is another big game for us on Saturday.”
Watch the full interview on the club's YouTube channel.