Jimmy McNulty praised the Dale supporters following the 3-1 win at York City on Bank Holiday Monday.
A brace from Tyrese Sinclair and Ian Henderson’s 139th Dale goal earned the three points, but the Head Coach reserved special praise for the fans.
“The fans have been amazing,” said McNulty.
“I’ve felt the freshness of the new chapter from the fans. Even the home game on Friday night, we drew 2-2, and I feel like there’s some understanding from the fans about the way we play. I can feel it.
“When we’re around the opposition’s area and we’re taking an extra pass, I know there’s that anxiety for us to shoot, but I’m definitely feeling more understanding from the fans about what we’re doing and appreciation for it too.
“We’ve got good players out there and the fans are letting our good players make the right decisions, rather than trying to make it for them.
“The way they travelled today, the connection at the end with the players, it’s really nice.
“I’m happy for our fans that they’re getting to see a good brand of football, in my opinion, and some points off the back of it.
“When they come away to support us, they pay good money, and the minimum they want to see is fight and effort, and I think our team have had that in every single game, which I’m proud of. The fans have brought their energy too which I’m also proud of. I’m proud to be Rochdale manager.”
Dale made it two wins and a draw from the last three games, which has seen McNulty’s men move up to fifth in the National League table.
Despite the result, he felt Dale lost control of the game in the second-half and whilst pleased with the result, says his team must learn from that.
“The performance – certainly pleased with the first-half performance. 11 vs 11 I thought we cut York open quote a lot. I couldn’t believe we went in at 1-1.
“Truthfully, we should have scored more goals. We deserved the right to be in at half-time 1-0 up. We need to learn.
“Second-half, at 11 vs 10, I thought York were the better team. They put us under it. We had great breakaway moments again that we didn’t kill. I know we can score more in that second-half.
“I’m just unhappy with the control that we lost in that second-half. You can see we’re looking for controlled performances. Our games have looked that way thus far, but second-half we lost control.
“It’s tough to win away, when there’s a hostile crowd, when the refs lose control. We just need to work on not letting ourselves lose control, and making right decisions.
“I felt relieved when we got that third goal. We were good for it, but York could have scored a couple in the second-half, but I think that was down to our stress, and we didn’t recognise some of our decision making. But a win is a great place to learn from.”
Watch the full interview with McNulty below via our official YouTube channel.