Winning culture for Robbie’s Dale
ROBBIE Stockdale has assured the Rochdale players not currently making the starting line up that opportunities will come their way.
Dale picked up a 3-2 victory against Port Vale on Saturday with Jake Beesley netting a double and Corey O’keeffe firing a late winner.
And it was a mark of Dale’s strength in depth that Aidy White weas unable to make the matchday squad, despite gaffer Stockdale having several players ruled out through injury.
Danny Cashman had to settle for a place on the bench - but made an outstanding contribution when he came on, lofting a delicious pass over the Vale defence for O’keeffe’s winner.
“I keep talking about it, but this isn’t going to be a successful season without every player,” said Stockdale, whose side sit tenth in League Two, just a point behind the early play-off runners.
“Every player has got to contribute - some will start, some will be off the bench. I left Aidan White out of the 18 purely because he needs to build his fitness up but he’s here and he’s contributing by giving advice to young Max (Taylor). So, it’s going to take everybody to be successful and, yeah, it’s a great day for us.
“Danny (Cashman) was excellent when he came on and full of energy and exactly what I want from the substitutes when they come on.”
Given the fact he’s having to intergrate ten new players into the squad, it’s been a terrific start to Stockdale’s managerial career at Dale – but the boss is still demanding more.
“I thought we started slow and I thought we gave them encouragement in the game, too many touches in the middle of the pitch, and we were on the back foot, not doubt about it.
“We withstood a lot of pressure in that first 15/20 minutes and we were probably fortunate to only be one down but then we got a hold of the game and our shape hurt them a little bit. It’s always going to be a difficult game and it can go either way but I felt our quality was there.
“We scored three fantastic goals, really, really good, and if you can do that on a regular basis, it gives you a great chance to win.”
He continued: “Credit to Port Vale. You’ve got no devine right to start better than an opposition. They started better than us and that was clear, and we probably just had to settle everybody down a little bit. Panicked is maybe the wrong word but when you’re on the back foot like that, it seems everything is happening at 100mph and instead of shouting at each other, it’s just a quiet word to settle down and to play to our shape and to play how we know we can. I felt we did that and probably finished the first half stronger and we took it into the second half.”
Beesley levelled the game up on 24 minutes and Dale went ahead eight minutes into the second half as the forward netted his second of the afternoon.
“Jake Beesley is such a willing runner in terms of trying to set our press off and running channels and everything, but he wants to score goals, as does every forward, so if he’s contributing like that, that’s brilliant,” said Stockdale. “The two balls in were fantastic, he couldn’t miss them.”
Beesley’s second put Dale in the box seat but Port Vale were back level soon after when Dale conceded possession cheaply deep inside their own half, something that irked the manager.
“I wasn’t happy with our response after going 2-1 up, and that was the only bit I’ve mentioned to the lads after the game. We almost get a little comfortable and start passing in areas where I don’t think we should.
“It’s results that we need and at times there’s no shame at just clearing your lines and getting up the pitch. I felt that we just brought a little bit of pressure on ourselves but, saying that, the response after that was excellent again.
“So do we get a little bit comfortable when we’re in the lead and think that’s job done? It’s something we’ll look at, but, certainly, I can count on two or three occasions when we should just clear our lines and put your foot through the ball.
“It’s real life, don’t mess about - it’s not academy football, let’s win the game properly.”