Hill sees bright side after Dale comeback
ROCHDALE boss Keith Hill hopes that coming from behind in the last-gasp draw against Wimbledon will give his team’s confidence a shot in the arm.
Jamie Allen’s stoppage-time corner evaded Dons stopper Ryan Clarke to grab a late point, after Andy Barcham gave the visitors a first-half lead and Dale substitute Callum Camps saw two yellow cards in the space of a minute.
And despite still searching for their first league win of the campaign, Hill was pleased with his side’s response to going a man down.
“We’ve got a goal from nothing and hopefully, we’ll take it into a week’s training and the belief will come back. Iit’s time to forget what’s just happened and start moving on,” said Hill.
“The reaction from the players to going down to ten men was superb.
“Our passing could have been cleaner but during the first half especially we were making confidence mistakes. It’s not through lack of trying or lack of desire. It’s confidence mistakes we are seeing at the minute and that is a big, big worry for me.”
The Dons took a 12th-minute lead with their first meaningful attack when Chris Whelpdale led a charge down the right wing and delivered a pinpoint cross for Barcham to head past Conrad Logan.
Allen found himself in space and cannoned a long-range 78th-minute effort which shaved the top of the crossbar.
Camps received his marching orders after being booked twice in the space of a minute, first for dissent and then a late challenge on Jake Reeves in the 82nd minute.
But Dale got their rewards when Allen’s corner, five minutes into injury time, sailed through Clarke’s hands in a crowded penalty area to salvage a point.
“If we’d have held on and won 1-0, I would’ve thought it would have been a classic away performance,” said Dons boss Neal Ardley.
“I thought they were the better team. Going down to ten men galvanised them even more.
“All game, I think our passing wasn’t good enough. We made bad decisions, sloppy decisions, and our cohesiveness with the ball wasn’t great.
“But we’ve had two tough away games and we’ve come away from them unbeaten, although we’re obviously devastated with a couple of minutes injury time left to not get the extra points.”