Jim Bentley said he felt frustrated after Dale’s defeat at home to Leyton Orient, but felt there were some good signs for his side to build on.
“We played the top of the division,” said the gaffer.
“They’re a good side and had a certain swagger to them which always comes when you’re confident, free flowing and playing well.
“We’re in a sticky situation ourselves. It could have been easy to feel sorry for ourselves, but one thing I’ve been touching on daily is how we go about our training and how that goes into the games.
“It’s about competing and working hard, emptying the tank every day, then taking that same work ethic and application into the game on a Saturday or a Tuesday night. I thought we got that. Everyone had a right good go.
“I think we lacked quality at times and our composure was poor. I’ve looked over quite a few clips and the club has been a possession-based team recently, but now with what we’ve got at the top end of the pitch, we think we can score goals. I think we looked good on the counter-attack. There were times when we were setting traps for Leyton Orient, but when we won the ball back we didn’t execute the final pass.
“We asked questions of them, but I think they asked more than us. For the first 25 minutes we stuck to the plan, but they built up that momentum and sometimes we gave them a leg-up.
“The goal came from that as well. We had opportunities to clear the ball and we haven’t done that. Next thing it’s in the back of our net, which is the killer goal. The game could have got away from us but we had a chat at half-time about what we expected. There were one or two things that we could put into practice and we did that.
“We asked questions, got in down the sides a few times, put a few balls across. We had a couple of other opportunities but probably didn’t test the goalkeeper as much as we wanted to.
“We stuck in the game. We were hard working and competitive. We showed the characteristics that we’re going to need in the position that we are. Sometimes you get your just rewards when you do that and we did with the penalty.
“Tyrese sniffed the opportunity out and took the foul. Unfortunately, we couldn’t put it away. Quigs [Scott Quigley] is ideal for it, he’s took them in the past, he scored two last week, he wanted it.
“It would have felt like a win but it wasn’t to be, that’s all its and buts. We did some good things which we’re pleased about, but there were others where we need to work harder. Overall, I’m frustrated. There were some good signs and some bits that we need to work on.”