True account of Dale in final three fixtures
JIM Mcnulty wants his Rochdale squad to give a true account of themselves in the final three games of the Vanarama National League season.
Dale entertained relegation-threatened Boreham Wood on Tuesday evening and play their final home game of the campaign on Saturday when Dorking Wanderers – another side in the bottom four – are the visitors. The final game of the season comes the following weekend at Southend United.
Nine points off the play-off places and ten points above the drop zone, Dale will end the season having safely secured another crack at National League football again in 2024/25.
And between now and the final whistle at Southend, Mcnulty wants to the see the kind of commitment his squad has shown all year.
“I want to see my team playing our way with bravery, committing to our principles and fighting as we have done all season and committing to the training ground,” he said after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with neighbours Oldham.
“I don’t know the permutations for the league but we have to have a true commitment and at the core of that, a true commitment to what we are trying to be and how we play our football.”
Mcnulty praised his side’s bravery in the derby at Boundary Park.
Dale fell behind early on to a Hallam Hope strike but equalised before the break from a corner routine with Sam Mather heavily involved but the final touch applied by an Oldham defender. The Head Coach felt better decisions in the final third could have seen his side come away with more.
“I thought it was a commendable effort from the team, to be honest,” said Mcnulty.
“To go behind early in the game, in a disappointing fashion for us as a team, it could have gone a lot differently, but I thought the team rallied and I thought we showed real bravery.
“I think the day was quite tough. The wind out here at pitch level, the dryness of the pitch, the ball just wouldn’t settle on it which made it challenging for the players.
“A lot of them have commented on that. This is a very expensive pitch that Oldham have put in and it’s amazing, but at the moment It’s a bit bobbly and the firmness of it was just a bit of a factor in trying to settle the ball down.
“I thought that’s a factor that affected the game a little bit for us with the style that we try and play, not so much for Oldham because I thought they were much more direct than us with their strategy for the day, which is football. You have to face a lot of different types of strategy. The ball doesn’t bobble in the air, but it does on the ground which made it tough for us to try and play the way we want to play.
“But taking all that into account, I think we were really brave, we stuck to our plan and there was a belief from the team that they could keep going.
“As the game grew, I thought we did and we were the team that became more dangerous, other than a couple of breakaways [from Oldham] and they hit the post. They were hopeful of trying to land something, a second phase shot at goal or something, wher we were trying to create and I do commend the team for that as the conditions were tough.
“When we reflect on the game, I think some of our final third choices, we probably will regret and definitely learn from, because I think the game was there for us.
“There were moments where, once we got to the final third, we just needed a calmness and make a better decision.
“I think the game could have been different for us.”
The set-piece equaliser for Dale was something the side had worked on.
“We’d worked on that – we copied Manchester City!” said Mcnulty.
““We saw it used in a big game and got excited by it ourselves, wanted to do and waited for the right moment to do it and I was delighted when it went in because they don’t always come off.
“It came off with perfect execution, there were a lot of moving parts in it, they all did their jobs and that’s really pleasing.
“It dragged us back into the game and lifted our belief again.
“You work on them as much as you work on your phases of play, defending your box, everything.
“They are a massive moment in the game and when you’ve worked hard on what you feel may be a potential vulnerability and you score a goal, it’s a great moment for the team.”