Jim Bentley praised Ian Henderson after his record-breaking goal earned Dale all three points against Salford City on Tuesday night.
The striker’s header was his 130th goal in a Dale shirt, surpassing Reg Jenkins’ record of 129, to become the club’s all-time leading scorer.
The gaffer was delighted for Henderson.
“I said to Hendo before the game that tonight was the night!
“Under the floodlights, in a derby game, against his former club. It was a great goal, a great ball by Ethan Brierley and a great header by Hendo.
“His movement was class and I was really pleased for him. It’s a big achievement at any level.
“From the outside looking in over the years, I’ve always thought what a fantastic player and a great servant for this club. He’s a good pro, leads by example, he’s great with the young lads and a great ambassador for the club.
“He’s a fantastic servant and to get that record is an unbelievable achievement. It was written in the stars for him, so well done Hendo.”
Bentley was pleased to take three points from what says was a tough game.
“They’re a good opposition, well drilled, well coached, ambitious club and they’ve got good players in the ranks.
“I was disappointed coming off the back of the weekend and we asked for a reaction.
“We changed the shape a little bit with Liam Kelly being out. We want to be adaptable, we want to be able to play in different ways but we just had to tweak it.
“It wasn’t going our way territorial possession wise. They had the upper hand and we were struggling at times but once we changed I thought we wrestled it back a little bit.
“We jumped on a couple of missed placed passes and broke. It’s our Achilles at the minute - we’re getting into the right positions from the shape that we’re defending in, it’s just that end product.
“But credit to the players for keeping going.”