Safety gap widens in spite of table drop
ROCHDALE’S goalless draw at home against play-off chasing Swindon saw them slip down a place in the League Two table – but move a point further away from the drop zone.
The stalemate against the Robins – plus Oldham’s 1-0 win at secondbottom Stevenage – gave Dale more breathing space in their push for Football League safety.
“You can never dismiss what a good team Swindon are, and I felt we maybe took 20 minutes to settle into the game and get used to their shape, but the boys dug in,” said Stockdale.
“It might be a very valuable point but at the same time we caused them some problems at the top end of the pitch as well.
“Whilst it’s fresh in my mind and I’ve just seen it back, Corey O’keeffe gets two penalties on another day. I’ve just seen both incidents back - one could be given and the second one should be given, so in balance of play we feel a bit aggrieved, but I felt the players left everything out on the pitch again. And I thought we were very good in the second half.”
The manager named an unchanged side for the encounter following the midweek win against Carlisle but employed a change of shape.
“We watched Swindon and the way that they play is very expansive,” he said.
“Their two eights roll out in the wide positions and we wanted to cover that. Corey played on the midfield line. It looked like a back four out of possession and that was the plan, and the wingers played really high and wide, so that made us not get pushed back into a back five.
“We tweaked it, and it’s something that we do and sometimes it doesn’t get noticed because the same names are seen on the team sheet. But we worked on the game plan and overall I think it worked fairly well.”
And the gaffer was pleased with the clean sheet with Dale looking to make it three on the bounce when they entertain Walsall at the Crown Oil Arena on Saturday.
“It’s really important. I can’t stress how important clean sheets are,” he said. “These three games at home - we’re not underestimating the next one - but it give us a good platform to go and attack that game.”
Stockdale had called on his players to show their fighting qualities after a run of seven games without a win and they have responded in the last two fixtures.
“I think the fans appreciate that, the players are being clapped off,” he said. “We want to play well every week and it’s not possible and sometimes the opposition are going to play well – we have no divine right to be better than them for the full game and for twenty minutes Swindon had a lot of possession of the ball but we sat off them and tried to pick our times to press. Once the boys got used to the plan and got their feet into the game you could see the plan working.”
With no midweek for Dale this week, with manager has a chance to take stock and rest his depleted ranks.
“The players are out on their feet. We’ve obviously picked up key injuries to key personnel. Paul Downing made the bench even though he only trained briefly, but we felt it was important to cover those positions with him and Jim [Mcnulty].
“It’s a chance to, not come off the boys, but we can give the ones who’ve started the majority of the games and had the minutes a little breather, and hopefully recovery properly going into what is another big game for us on Saturday.”