Springboard to second half joy
IAN Henderson believes back to back victories either side of Christmas can catapult Rochdale into a successful second half of the season.
The club’s top scorer made it 13 goals for the season so far when he bagged an 89th minute winner against Blackpool on Boxing Day.
It came just four days after Callum Camps had fired an 87th minute winner against Southend at Roots Hall, and skipper Henderson insists successive late wins have instilled a sense of belief among the squad.
“That’s two games in a row now, so it goes to show something. They used to call it Fergie time, you keep on going right to the final whistle,” he said.
“There are so many goals scored from around 85 minutes. People switch off and as long as you stay switched on you can capitalise on those lapsed performances in seeing the game out.
“Back to back wins over the Christmas period is beautiful.
“We are just going to continue working hard because we are going into the second half of the season and putting ourselves in a real good position. You get a few wins in a row and it can really move you up the table.
“We’ve done it before in previous seasons and why can’t we do it this season? That’s the question I ask myself and I ask the players in the dressing room. We have the ability, the game understanding, it’s just about putting all that together with consistent performances and try to accumulate as many points as we can.
“I think there were a lot of factors determining last season’s position at this stage, number one being the playing surface. But without contradicting myself, it didn’t hinder our FA Cup run. There was loss of form, indifferent performances from the team.
“This season has been a lot different and we got that from the pre-season we had and rolled into the season playing some really good football but not winning. Then we were winning but not playing well! It’s about consistency this league and if you can find consistency within it you will move up the table fast.”
Dale had to be patient to secure the result in the 2-1 win against the ten men of Blackpool, who had cancelled out Ollie Rathbone’s opener via a Michael Nottingham strike despite having Jordan Thompson dismissed for reacting to a tackle from Camps.
“We left it right to the last kick of the game! To be fair to Blackpool, they played incredibly well to say they were down to ten players for a long period of the game,” said Henderson.
“I just felt I’d get one chance. I kept making little diagonal runs in the box and fortunately Brad Inman has seen me and the rest is history!
“A lot of it comes down to team belief and self belief - you have to continuously make the same movements, the right movements, over and over again. I once heard Alan Shearer say he used to make ten runs to get the ball once.
“That’s what it’s about, making runs constantly not just for myself but for the team.
“The run was at the right time, onside, great weighted pass from Bradden allowed me to open up my body and take a couple of touches within the box and slide it under the keeper.”