Rob’s rest order for Pilgrims’ tie
ROBBIE Stockdale was encouraging his players to completely switch off from him and from football ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup second round clash against Plymouth Argyle.
The Dale chief was delighted with his side’s performance in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Exeter City at the Crown Oil Arena, Max Taylor cancelling out George Ray’s opener with a superb hit from 25 yards.
Unbeaten in eight, Dale are preparing to face a Pilgrims outfit flying high in League One in Sunday’s 12.15pm televised tie.
And part of that preparation will include a wellearned rest.
“It’s a huge opportunity in terms of showcasing the club, showcasing that we’re still here, showcasing that we fought off numerous attempts from people who wanted to come in and takeover,” Stockdale said of the cup clash.
“So it’s hopefully a big celebration in those terms but we also want to perform!
“It’s a great stage for us against a very difficult team. So it will be a couple of days’ rest and then go again.
“We get an extra day because it’s a Sunday game. We’ve had such a busy schedule and we’re down on numbers as it is, so the players will get a couple of extra days off this week.
“It’s probably the only time in the season we can allow them to have those days and try to switch off from me, switch off from football and try to come back refreshed because we’ve got a huge opportunity next week for all of us.”
Saturday’s 1-1 draw was played out in tough conditions, with an icy wind making life difficult for both sides. However, Stockdale felt his side were the more impressive.
“It was a really difficult game in tough conditions but I thought we were excellent in lots of aspects,” he said.
“It was never going to be pretty, I think the environment we were playing in was tough - there was swirling winds and it was freezing cold.
“Thank you to everybody who came out to support us. I think they saw a game full of effort and endeavour and bits of quality, and probably on another day I think we shaded it and deserved to win the game.
“I asked them to do the ugly side of the game really well and they did that to a man against a very good side who are high in the league. I thought we better team.”
Jake Beesley was unfortunate to hit the post with a first half penalty while Josh Andrews also hit the woodwork.
“We created chances - Obviously the penalty is a big moment in the game, but other than that we’ve hit the post, Josh has had a chance with a header, Jake has got in time and time were the and time again down the right hand side channel and Conor [Grant] has had a couple of little moments. But then bizarrely it takes your centre-back to score from 25-yards to get a point, so for all those chances that we had, somebody else steps up to produce a moment of quality.”
Rochdale went behind shortly before the hour mark, with Max Taylor scoring his brilliant long range effort to equalise ten minutes later.
“I was really pleased [with the response]. I thought it was unfortunate that we went behind.
“We had a bit of an overload on the back post - and there was a good ball in and a good header. It was disappointing to lose the goal that way but I thought we responded ever so well.
“Josh has hit the post and he’s had a chance with the header, there were a couple of other chances - and then Jay Lynch comes up with a save to keep us with a point, so credit to all the players. It was a really tough game but I thought our attitude to the game was fantastic.”
“Jimmy Keohane is going to be quite long term,” said Stockdale.
“[It will be] 10-12 weeks with a broken foot, so that’s disappointing.
“He’ll see a specialist over the next day or two to see if it needs pinning or some kind of surgery.”
Meanwhile, Alex Newby missed Saturday’s match against Exeter City, and Stockdale says he sustained an injury during training on Friday.
“Alex pulled up in training yesterday with a bit of a groin injury, so he wasn’t available.”