Continuity key to Dale development
THE fact Rochdale ran National League rivals Gateshead so close on Good Friday filled head coach Jim Mcnulty with optimism for the future.
The Heed are several years into their development strategy while Dale are only 12 months down the line with Mcnulty at the helm, a period in which the club has been trying to secure investment off the field to secure its very future.
That investment looks to be secured now with the Ogden family undergoing a period of due diligence and Mcnulty will hope over the course of the next few months that focus turns to on-field matters once again.
Dale’s three-game winning run was ended by a 1-0 loss on Tyneside on Good Friday, but ahead of the Easter Monday home game against Hartlepool United, Mcnulty said: “The badge that we play for, the teams, the clubs that we represent, they are not all correlated with where they’re at as football clubs.
“With all due respect, Gateshead are probably a smaller club than Rochdale, there are a few bigger clubs in this division. But, in terms of commitment to a project, Gateshead are three or four years in.
“There is brilliant continuity going on there.
“We are in our infancy in terms of the project and yet I think days like Friday, looking at how close the game was, despite the fact I think we can play better, I do take pride from that.
“I still want to win every game because I believe we can win every game – I think we could have won on Friday.
“But they are a lot further on in what they are doing and have been doing for a long time. There have been a lot of incomings, outgoings, a lot of time to evolve things, assess them. We are in the early part of doing the exact same thing.
“The squad is at the healthiest it’s been for a long time, which is why even when we’re not at our full best I think we’re still able to be competitive in all games. Friday was a very competitive game with a very narrow scoreline and we can’t get too dishearened about it, we’re just off the back of three wins and losses are part of the process.
“Belief and continued professional standards moving forward, under the right culture, representing our fans the right way and working every ounce out of our bodies away from home and at home, they are the principles we continue to live by, they are the things we need to enforce and practice every day on the training ground.”
Dajaune Brown’s firsthalf goal proved to be the
difference, as the play-off contenders inflicted a first defeat in five on Dale.
“I thought it was a very close game,” said Mcnulty.
“I heard Rob [Elliot, Gateshead manager] saying in the week that it’s two of the best football teams in the league playing against each other. It very much was that. It was a cagey, tactical, possession-based affair.
“Truthfully, I don’t think either team threatened the other team’s goal that much.
“The only moment that we got undone came from direct play straight over the top. I thought we were able to cope in that moment and we didn’t. It was a secondary attack from that direct play that was the difference in what was a very tight game.
“I thought we were slow in the first half in terms of our performance. I don’t think we started at our best and didn’t play with the verve that we’ve had recently.
“I think that definitely improved in the second half, which was a reaction to what was expressed in the changing room at halftime.
“We began to become the team that pushed the game. Our line management got a lot better, we dealt with the direct stuff that Gateshead do play when you do get pressure on them, we coped better with their direct releases and when we did we grew into the game and all it needed was some personality, confidence, courage and ability with the ball, I think we showed more of that in the second half, whereas first half we didn’t. Ultimately over the 95 minutes, it was very tight.
“There wasn’t a lot exchanged in terms of punch power on the other team’s goal. But I’m not really surprised by that given both teams want the ball and the principles that both teams play to.
“I thought it was a great advert for National League football, but it depends what you like, I suppose.”