Manager Robbie Stockdale on Dale’s 0-0 draw with Bradford City at the Crown Oil Arena…
“I thought the first half was scrappy, truth be told,” said the Gaffer.
“That’s the one thing we’ve been concerned with in the past and one thing we were guilty of at Tranmere, but I thought we more than matched that scrap today.
“I told the players at half-time that we couldn’t stop because that’s what Bradford want to do to you. When a team comes to our place in particular and wants to have a fight, let’s have a fight to prove to them that we’re as good as them at that, because I know the football will come out because we’ve got good players.
“I thought in the second half we were really good but we, bizarrely, had probably had the better chances in the first half - we had a couple of really good opportunities to score.
“But, no, overall I’m really pleased with how we played and how we fought, and what we gave to the team and each player individually. I’m frustrated not to win.”
He continued: “Listen, this is no slight on anybody else. We got cold last week - yes, we brought it on ourselves, but we actually looked like a team today that had played a game [last week] and had a good weeks’ training.
“I think the experience of what Paul [Downing] brings helps that - I thought he was excellent. I think people can see that he’s going to be a really good player for us.
“And then there was Max [Clark] coming on, after he only signed yesterday morning. He’s a player that I’ve known a hell of a long time. He was coming through the youth ranks at Hull City when I was at Grimsby so I knew all about him. He’ll be a good signing.
“The disruption that we’ve had this week - on the back of the players leaving at the start of the window, we’v had players coming in and we trained on 4G for two days this week which players aren’t particularly keen on but the pitches were frozen. Then there was the three enforced substitutions, so I’ve got to be pleased with the performance but frustrated that we didn’t win.”
Aidy White and Josh Andrews were forced off through injury inside six first-half minutes, while Liam Kelly had to be substituted off early in the second half.
“Aidan got a bang on his knee so that’s an impact injury. Hopefully that’ll be ok but it could be anything, so until it settles down we won’t know.
“Josh collided with the goalkeeper and rolled his ankle, and Liam’s got a really nasty gash on his shin.
“Out of all of them, I’m most hopeful that Liam will be ok and I say that because it’s a nasty cut, but we’ll have to make assessments during the week.”
Watch the Gaffer’s post-match interview in full on the club’s YouTube channel, where he also discusses the January transfer window.