Safe Dale set to attack the table
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FOOTBALL League safety assured, Rochdale are preparing to attack the League Two table in their remaining three games of the 2021/22 season.
Dale responded to Good Friday’s 1-0 loss at Stevenage with a 2-1 victory against Hartlepool on Easter Monday when Eoghan O’connell’s 94th minute Goal of the Season contender clinched the points in dramatic fashion.
The win – along with Oldham’s defeat against Forest Green – ended any faint fears of relegation and saw Dale rise up to 15th in the table on 50 points.
They take on secondplaced Exeter today before a home clash against Bristol Rovers and a final away game at Newport with boss Robbie Stockdale insisting it’s important they sprint to the finish line.
All three opponents still harbour promotion hopes and Stockdale called on Dale to replicate their second half showing against Hartlepool, in which Jimmy Keohane and O’connell netted to overturn Bryn Morris’ early goal for the visitors in a poor opening 45 minutes for the home side.
“I don’t know what other clubs’ budgets are, but I think we are slightly above where we should be right now and I always had something in mind as to where we might finish. We’re not there yet, so that is the challenge to the players,” said Stockdale after Monday’s win.
“The thing is, we don’t want to feel after any game the way we felt at half time against Hartlepool – the changing room was absolutely buzzing after the game but me being realistic and miserable half of the time, I just reminded them that they can’t feel as ecstatic now but as disappointed as they were at half time.
“If we work as well as we can, we have a good team, so the challenge is over the last three games – and they are tough, tough games by the way – to see what we can get out of them to get a bit of momentum going into next season.
“Everybody’s really happy at the minute but I must be honest, I can’t get the first-half performance out of my head. It’s still in there, still on my mind.
But that’s football, I’m sure in a couple of hours’ time I’ll reflect and think ‘yeh, well done, a great win.’”
Stockdale admitted he’d had words with the players at the interval – but was delighted with their response.
“They say that no two halves of football are ever the same, and I think was really evident,” he said.
“I thought we were shocking in the first half. We were really, really poor and I didn’t enjoy us one little bit. The players were reminded at half-time of what I expect.
“We can talk about tactics - maybe I got it slightly wrong in the first half but that doesn’t stop the desire, the running, competing and even just the basics of passing the ball to each other. So, words were said and fair credit to the players, what a brilliant second half.
“They took everything on board and we were the really good version of ourselves. We, probably, in the end deserved to win the game, because even though the first half [belonged to] Hartlepool and ours was the second. I think we actually created a lot more opportunities in the second half than they did in the first. I think there was another goal from the corner [which was ruled out] and I don’t know how it’s offside, but it took a fantastic strike from our captain in the last minute and there’s not many better ways to win a football game.”
Abraham Odoh replaced Corey O’keeffe for the start of the second half, allowing Eoghan O’connell to move into the back three from midfield where’d started the game. And Stockdale once again praised the players for their response to the first half performance.
“What did I change? I obviously tweaked the personnel a little bit, and that’s nothing to do with Corey who we took off - Corey has been excellent for us - but I just felt that we needed Eoghan to move back into the middle of the back three. Ibbs {Abraham Odoh] has been training very well and he deserves some minutes on the pitch so credit to him as well.
“But it was almost a mentality change. The players took on the message and all credit to them. I’ve been in that situation before and it’s not easy. It’s not easy when you’re in a bit of a slump to motivate yourself. Hartlepool gave us a lot of problems in the first half but we stuck in and didn’t concede the second which would have been a killer for us and then we were superb in the second half, really, really good.
“The first goal was something we work on in training, trying to roll out with the wide players and from one wing-back to the other - it was brilliant football, a really good goal. So you’ve got a fantastic team goal [to level] and a brilliant individual goal to win it.
“It was emotion - I think it was emotion from being a bit frustrated with ourselves during that first 45 and the emotion from me at half time - but sometimes it’s good to play with emotion. As long as it’s on the right side of the line, it’s good to play with emotion. I thought we saw that in the second half. For all the criticism we rightly got in the first half, I hope people saw a fantastic reaction and we showed what we can do.”
The fact Dale were missing several key players – including Jeriel Dorsett, James Ball, Tahvon Campbell and Liam Kelly – made the win all the more satisfying.
“Max Taylor came on and he isn’t ready to play in the first-team yet, certainly not to start. You see Jim (Mcnulty) playing like Paulo Maldini, stepping into the midfield until he unfortunately cramped up. So we’re walking wounded – fortunately we have a little break now before the game at Exeter and we’ll be able to rest those tired limbs.
“The only decision we have to make is Ethan because we can recall him from his loan at Spennymoor – we will probably look to do that. Ethan’s getting great experience there on loan, they are pushing for the play-offs but it gives us a chance to potentially have a look at him as well.
“We know what a good player he is and I think he is growing into senior football there, so it’s something we might do.”