Keith Hill critical of Rochdale despite fightback

Rochdale boss Keith Hill was left with a sense of what might have been after his side shared six goals in a thrilling draw at Scunthorpe.

Although pleased with the “courage” his side showed to come back from 3-1 down and secure a point, his overriding feeling was one of disappointment given the trouble Dale got themselves into early on at Glanford Park.

“I’m disappointed we were 2-0 down to two gifts. Then when we got ourselves back into the game, we gave away another,” Hill said.

“It was down to a total lack of responsibility from individuals, which unfortunately our supporters don’t see.

“We had to bring Zach Clough off because he’d had a yellow card and was fortunate to stay on the pitch.

“That’s down to a lack of individual discipline and not doing the basics – staying in the game, avoiding contact and making sure you’re doing your job.

“We got that wrong today a little bit, although the courage we showed in the fightback was excellent and if I’m being honest, we should have won the game no question.

“I’m disappointed with all the players. Regardless of the fightback, regardless of the three goals, regardless of the 27 opportunities we’ve had on goal – and I might be exaggerating that – I know deep down they’ve not done what they were supposed to do today.”

Having started brightly, Scunthorpe were two goals up inside 18 minutes with Lee Novak heading the hosts ahead from a free-kick and Ryan Colclough capping a mazy run with a cool finish.

Oliver Rathbone got a much-improved Dale team back in the game not long after the restart – only for Charlie Goode to head home 60 seconds later and restore the Iron’s two-goal cushion.

Amid a torrential downpour, the goals continued to rain in, with Rathbone rattling in his second of the afternoon before substitute Matty Gillam saw his effort at goal deflect into the top corner with eight minutes to play.

The equaliser denied Stuart McCall a first victory as manager of the Iron, in what was his first league game in charge at Glanford Park.

“We’ve talked about needing to score more goals, but likewise we’ve got to start shutting the back door,” McCall said.

“This team has lost by five against Fleetwood here and drew 2-2 with Barnsley having been 2-0 up, and when we went 3-1 up you could sense there was an edginess – players weren’t looking after the ball.

“When you look at the squad and team you could say there’s a nervousness and a naivety, certainly in the last 20 minutes. We needed to manage the game and see it out, but we couldn’t do it.

“A lot of football is about decision-making and today we made a lot of wrong decisions.”