Dale boss laments harsh scoreline

JIM Mcnulty felt his Rochdale side performed better than the scoreline suggested on Saturday.

His side were beaten 3-0 at Altrincham, a reverse of the game between the sides earlier in the season at the Crown Oil Arena.

The head coach acknowledged the hosts deserved to take all three points and that Dale are still trying to rediscover their rhythm, after a third defeat in a row.

“I think Altrincham deserved to win,” said Mcnulty, pictured.

“We’ve shared two 3-0 score lines with them now. Truthfully, I don’t think we deserved to beat them 3-0 at our place, I thought they deserved to score on the night.

“I remember Phil (Parkinson) saying the same after that game, and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t say similar after today.

“Altrincham were more clinical than us, but I would say that’s all they were. We were in the game, we got around their goal a lot and had loads of opportunities and shots.

“We hit the post and had loads of one-v-ones deep into their box, which are the ones you want. I don’t think it was a 3-0 game, like the one at home. The scoreline doesn’t necessarily reflect the game.

“I thought we had loads more around the goal than last week, when I couldn’t see us scoring, even though we did. This week, I could see us scoring.

“For the first 25 minutes I thought we were really good, on top in the game.

“They were in their groove, and they have a real selfbelief right now with where they are as a team.

“We didn’t show the same cutting edge and conviction that they did.

“We’re trying to re-find our rhythm and having a lot of players back on the pitch will help that. We will stutter in the meantime, but with performances like this, we will win games. I’ve no concerns about this group winning games.

“We’ve got Cian Hayes, George Nevett and Adam Clayton getting their first exposure to minutes today, Kairo Mitchell got 70 minutes. Those things will help us moving forward and with performances like this, we’ll score goals.

“If I was taking my Rochdale hat off and watched the game as a neutral, I would just say the team in red had quality when they were in the box, and the team in blue didn’t. But I know my guys have got quality and, on another day, we score.”

The result saw Dale slip down to tenth in the National League table on 41 points, six points off the play-offs.

They return to the Crown Oil Arena on Saturday when they play host to a Solihull Moors side in fifth spot ahead of their midweek home match against Kidderminster Harriers.