‘Mitchell’s red card has to be wiped out’
DALE boss Jim Mcnulty says he’s confident Kairo Mitchell’s red card against Hartlepool will be overturned.
Mitchell was given his marching orders in the 39th minute during the 1-1 draw against United.
The visitors went on to take a 65th minute lead through Joe Gray but Dale fought back and earned a point thanks to Devante Rodney’s 96th minute leveller.
And Mcnulty was delighted with his team’s never-say-die attitude.
He said: “There was a real willingness and a will to survive.
“One of the things I said at half time was we’ll have to embrace suffering, because we were going to suffer.
“Unless we got something from a set piece I thought chances would open up later in the game and it turned out that way.
“I thought through a brilliant fight and knowing we’d suffer without the ball and on a heavy pitch that takes it out of your legs I had concerns for the team.
“But I always believed that if they were willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, and that greater good being a potential result still being on the line, I felt we could get something.
“I felt later on we could develop one v ones.
“It was one of those games that from half time onwards was played out how I thought it would be.
And on the sending off, Mcnulty is convinced that having seen the incident from multiple angles, he thinks there’ll be no other option but to wipe out the red card.
He continued: “I’m mindful of what I say and how I say it because I’ve got strong feelings about the decision.
”To give you a clue, it’s the second time this season I’ve been to see a referee after a game because I’ve needed to.
“The first was Halifax away for the most disgraceful offside decision I’ve ever seen against us for a goal.
“Today, I just felt Kairo’s sending off was fan-led.
“These guys (referees) have to make difficult decisions but after seeing it back it’s probably the first time I believe we’ll have an appeal overturned because when I see it back it’s a clean, safe tackle in my opnion.
“If I’m right or wrong, who knows but that’s my interpretation.
“Watching it back from all the best possible angles, I don’t see how that’s not going to get overturned”.
Despite the setback, Mcnulty was impressed with the desire to fight, having been reduced to ten men.
“I think the spirit the team had to find from that moment on is more important than the referee’s poor decision”, he added.
“I’m proud of the guts the team showed. It’s at that stage of the season where inspiration maybe wanes a little bit with a few games to go but they represented Rochdale unbelievably well.
“I didn’t feel like we’d be on the counter attack from the start of the second half.
“I thought it would be a digging in, backs to the wall survival type situation and I think the players did that perfectly.
“My focus was on individual players and was I seeing that commitment to stick to the game plan and to believe we could get something out of the game. It played out that way.
“We had to try and break the will of Hartlepool, to try and send a message that in open play they weren’t going to break us down.
“I felt like they would want the ball in our box and would potentially be impatient to do so, given where they’ve been at recently.
“I think the fact that they only scored from a corner, when numbers don’t matter as much and it’s a physical match-up, which we’ve been brilliant at all season if I’m honest, we lost one of those, which happens.
“That was a shame and I thought that could be a challenge to our will”.
Dale are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Oldham Athletic for a 12.30pm kick off.