Red-hot Dale make it terrific win treble
JIMMY Mcnulty felt the narrow margin of victory in Saturday’s win at Dagenham & Redbridge did little to reflect his Dale side’s ‘outstanding’ performance.
Goals from Cian Hayes and Ian Henderson earned all three points in a 2-1 victory, making it three National League wins on the bounce for inform Dale.
The head coach said the players were excellent with their execution against a team that can cause problems.
“I’m very pleased for the team,” said Mcnulty.
“They deserve it, totally. The fans were excellent also, so I’m very pleased for them.
“And it’s great for my staff who have put in so much work to commit to what we’re doing, through the challenges that we’re facing. I thought it was an excellent performance and a fully deserved win.
“We were outstanding. I feel like we were maybe lower, in terms of productivity and pure chances. But we controlled the game so much today.
“We were always able to expose what they were willing to give us. In the moments when there was space to find through them, behind them, round them, we always did it.
“The players were excellent with their execution. Everything relies on execution and confidence, so it fully is down to the players. They were in their groove today and I feel like 2-1 really flattered Dagenham.
“We made the game look routine, other than the goal late on where one of our players whacks it at another of our player’s heads and it goes straight to their player.
“They got the goal and that could have made it stressful, but we went straight back into handling it and ultimately, I think we made a very tough fixture, against a side who have been causing teams problems.
“I think they’ve won four out of six, they’re a really high intensity pressing team, they want to take the ball of you. We faced a lot of challenges very close to our own goal today, but with pure belief and great execution, which is all down to the players because they’re the guys out there doing it, we made a really challenging fixture look really routine.”
164 Dale supporters backed the team throughout the 90 minutes and Mcnulty appreciated the
connection between the team and fans at the end of the game.
“They waited for us in
the freezing cold and I’m glad that the win kept them warm, in some way.
“I think they appreciated
what they saw, because it wasn’t just conviction with the ball and how classy we looked at
times, it was fight.
“Real fight to nullify Dagenham early, because they’re a real threat and they stick it on you over and over again.
“I was glad to see all of our players over there with the fans, getting the moment they deserved, and it’s a good journey home for them fans I think.”
Next up for Dale is another trip to the capital, this time to take on Bromley on Saturday 2nd December.