HILL’S TRAVELS GET A REWARD
ROCHDALE deservedly picked up their first away point of the season at Oxford United with their manager Keith Hill feeling that it was not before time.
Trailing at half-time, the visitors flew out of the traps in the second half and quickly equalised through Matthew Lund and went on to have the best of the remainder of the action.
Hill would have also been enthused with how his defence managed to keep an Oxford side, who have been prolific so far this season, at bay for long periods.
Hill said:“I think the players will take care of themselves if they perform like that.
“We’ve been a bit hindered in our last two away games with the sending-off at Burton and the penalty at Plymouth that obviously wasn’t a penalty.
“So we had an opportunity here to give a decent reflection of our capabilities.
“We started showing the belief that I know the players have got towards the latter stages of the first half and then obviously in the second half.
“Their goal came against the run of play but we got the right response – I’ve got characters out there.”
Ian Henderson had an early sighter for Rochdale as his shot from 25 yards whistled just over before Oxford’s James Constable found the side netting after a Danny Rose corner wasn’t cleared.
The U’s went ahead after 24 minutes as after Asa Hall headed back David Hunt's cross, Rose's shot was well saved by Dale goalkeeper Josh Lillis only for Constable to slam in the rebound.
The visitors’ George Donnelly then forced Ryan Clarke into a save just after the half-hour mark but sadly the half came to a scrappy end.
But the second half started wonderfully for Rochdale as Rhys Bennett hung up a terrific cross from the right that Lund nodded in from close range at the back post.
It was their first goal away from home this season and although it prompted their best spell of the game, they couldn’t make it count.
And it almost cost them as Lillis had to smother Tyrone Marsh’s effort and he was aided by his captain Oliver Lancashire who cleared Constable’s follow-up off the line.
Oxford remain, unbeaten even though they lost their lead at the top, but their boss Chris Wilder refused to be too downbeat.
He said: “I’m not angry at all because it was an entertaining game of football and you can’t be angry after five games.
“It was disappointing to lose the goal soon after half-time because I thought the first half was a decent performance from us against good opposition.
“I felt in the first half that we created more chances than them, but we gave the ball away cheaply just after half-time and invited the pressure on.
“If we would have been better just after half-time then we would have hopefully gone on to add to our scoreline but it just wasn’t to be I suppose.”