Rochdale boss Keith Hill: Survival battle will go to the wire - 7M sport

Rochdale boss Keith Hill: Survival battle will go to the wire



Posted Wednesday, April 25, 2018 by PA

Rochdale boss Keith Hill: Survival battle will go to the wire

Rochdale may have lifted themselves out of the League One relegation zone with a 1-1 draw against Plymouth, but manager Keith Hill still expects the survival battle to go to the wire.

Ryan Delaney headed Dale level in the 55th minute, just 60 seconds after Joel Grant had opened the scoring for the visitors, who had dominated the first half and were unfortunate not to go in ahead at the break.

With neighbours Oldham losing, it meant Dale climbed out of the bottom four for the first time since mid-December.

“I think it’s a very good point earned after the first-half performance,” admitted Hill.

“Psychologically we looked as though we’d been beaten off the pitch but in the second half I thought we saw a better reflection of us. We showed the type of spirit I expect, the bravery.

“It could have been a bit sticky, but we’re keeping the fans with us when they look like they might go against us. There is a lot of anxiety but that turned on its head with the news Oldham were losing.

“We’re fighting, the players are fighting and they need support. I don’t know if this will do anything psychologically to Oldham or Walsall, we’ve got to focus purely on our games. It’s between three or four sides. It will go down to the wire.”

Plymouth peppered the Dale goal during an opening 45 minutes in which goalkeeper Josh Lillis pulled off strong saves to deny Graham Carey, Ruben Lameiras and Antoni Sarcevic, while Carey also saw a shot cannon off the foot of a post.

Such was Plymouth’s superiority that Hill made a double substitution at the break and his changes worked, with Rochdale much brighter after the interval.

However, Grant headed in Lameiras’ cross against the run of play to hand Derek Adams’ men the lead. It was short-lived, though, as Delaney met Brad Inman’s corner to head home.

Adams said: “It was a good game, we thought it would be end to end and it was a very good point for ourselves and for Rochdale as well because we have both put ourselves in better positions tonight.

“We played on the front foot and stopped Rochdale playing, because that’s what they try to do. We were unfortunate not to go ahead earlier in the game.

“We dominated the first half and over the 90 minutes we probably had the better opportunities. They started to push forward after the break and they do that well – they have only lost five games here, though they have drawn a lot.

“We deflated them with the opening goal and should have done better in not allowing them back in the game.”

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