Wimbledon boss Neil Ardley pleased to take point from Rochdale

Posted Sunday, March 18, 2018 by PA

Neil Ardley admitted his AFC Wimbledon side were fortunate to escape Rochdale with a share of the spoils after a 1-1 draw at Spotland.

The Dons took an early lead through Deji Oshilaja but thereafter were forced to defend for long periods by a Dale side fighting for their League One lives.

Andy Cannon’s heavily-deflected effort levelled the game up but goalkeeper George Long and the Dons defence denied dominant Dale a winner.

“It’s a fantastic point,” said Ardley. “I’ll be honest, Rochdale were better than us on the day and probably deserved to win.

“We rode our luck and our goalkeeper made a few good saves. They’ve got nothing to lose and need to win games where they are.

“We tried to match them up with the shape, but they were better than us and in the end we were hanging on a bit.

“One thing we did do, we defended our box really well and the commitment from the players was excellent.

“Rochdale played with a lot more freedom and they were the team who looked like going for the win. They were the team going for it and I’m sure their manager will be disappointed.

“We’ve just got to try and keep chipping away. I’m sure we’re going to lose some games between now and the end of the season but we’ve got to try and win three and pick up some draws, hoping that will be enough.”

Lyle Taylor’s free-kick struck the wall and ran kindly for Oshilaja to slot home six minutes in.

Stephen Humphrys teed up Cannon for the equaliser after 27 minutes, his shot looping up over Long courtesy of a deflection off Barry Fuller.

“It was a good, winning performance, it just wasn’t a winning result,” said Dale boss Keith Hill.

“The reason why we didn’t win is we didn’t convert our opportunities. It’s a different day, but the same song.

“After three clean sheets I knew we were going to concede a goal, it was just a case of when.

“We dealt with conceding really well, but the opportunities which came after we’d equalised were a joke.

“It was ridiculous really, when you consider how hard the players worked, that we did not get the victory we deserved but I look at the fact we have eight points from the last four games and a five-point gap now between us a Northampton and MK Dons, so slowly, slowly we are catching up.”