No change for the sake of it at Dale
ROCHDALE’S new signings may have to wait before making their first starts for the club.
Rekeil Pyke, Joe Bunney, Zach Clough and Jimmy Keohane are all expected to be named in today’s squad to face Coventry City at the Crown Oil Arena, but boss Keith Hill will not change a winning side for the sake of it.
Fellow recent arrivals Ryan McLaughlin, Ethan Ebanks-Landell, Rory Holden and Ethan Hamilton have already burst into the first team and made an impact – the quartet starting last weekend’s 2-1 win at Walsall.
But with Dale improving by the week, the others may have to be a little more patient.
“I’ve seen progression over the last month but we haven’t got the results. I thought it was important that the players who played at Barnsley last week got a second chance to at least show the same performance levels,” said Hill.
“We’re in a position now where the importance of the game is the result, and we got the three points.
“There were some mistakes which are typical of side that is struggling at the wrong end of the table, but it’s brilliant for the lads to remind themselves of what it feels like to have a winning week, and we’ve got to build on it.
“We know that we’re not the end product and that we need to improve to improve our opportunities to get results, but there was a lot of courage out on the pitch at Walsall and I was pleased with the way we started the game.
“I’m also really pleased with the goals, and we got a little bit of fortune because it could have gone either way – it could have been 2-2. But I thought we deserved the win, not just on that performance but because we’ve been rolling into this.
“I’ve been trying to encourage the lads and we’ve been rolling.
“We rolled in the second half against Peterborough and I thought we did against Fleetwood to a certain degree, and then at Barnsley we missed out on what should have been a point.
“I’m pleased that we got the three points because it would have been hard to keep singing the tune to the players of what I expect and not getting the results, so they got a bit of sugar.”
And Hill explained why he didn’t make wholesale changes to the squad for the match at Walsall by introducing more of his new recruits.
“We’ve got to try and build on something, like the roll I was just talking about,” he said.
“As a manager you want to win games and you’ve got to see through the result, to a certain degree.
“I didn’t think there was an awful lot wrong from the Peterborough game sliding into the week, so why make the changes [to the starting XI] because we’ve got new players.
“They’ve got to earn their place and they’ve got to understand how we train and how we do things – it’s important that we integrate the players.
“On Christmas Day, do you open all your presents on Christmas Day or do you save a few of them for later in the day of maybe Boxing Day? I tend to be quite relaxed and composed about opening my presents!”
As well as a debut for Pyke from the bench, Bunney made his return bow, replacing Ryan McLaughlin at right-back during the final moments of the game.
“It was a difficult one because I’ve got the young kid, Luke Matheson, who’s on the bench for a reason. We’re going into the embers of the game where they’re throwing everything at us. I just needed that little bit of experience.
“There’s no fear from me in playing Luke, but I just didn’t feel it was right to put him on in that scenario, when there’s so much pressure on us retaining that scoreline. I’ve had a chat with him and explained my decision, and he understands. Dan Adshead has been excluded from the squad because I needed MJ [Williams] to maybe come on in that game to see us out.”
The two Ethans, Ebanks-Landell and Hamilton, scored for the side on Saturday, earning Dale three points at the Banks’ Stadium.
“It gives your players a lift when you have new players coming in who are of the calibre of both Ethans. I believe they’ve made us stronger,” said Hill.
“There was a lot of negativity towards us selling the players that we have done, but I believe we’ve improved the squad and our opportunities of staying, at least, in League One, with the recruitment of those players.
“We’ve been working so hard to get through the run of games in January, and Walsall was a really important game for us looking at the previous three of four games, including the last game at Barnlsey, because I thought we deserved more from that, and that’s why I went with the same side, but this was a really important game for us with respect to psychology.”
‘I’ve been trying to encourage the lads and we’ve been rolling’