Soccer
Ian Watson lauds Rochdale’s ‘courage and bravery’ in win over Shrewsbury
Rochdale produced the kind of performance boss Ian Watson has been waiting for as they swept Shrewsbury aside with a 3-0 victory at the Crown Oil Arena.
Baba Adeeko fired them ahead in the 33rd minute before Luke Hannant lofted a beautiful finish over Shrews stopper Will Brook 10 minutes later.
Dale goalkeeper Nils Ramming pulled off a fine save after the break to keep out Will Boyle’s header, but the home side’s lead was never under threat and they rounded off a fine display with substitute Jonny Smith firing into the roof of the net in the 80th minute.
It was the club’s first win since returning to the EFL and the first three-point return of Watson’s tenure.
He said: “I never get obsessed with the scoreboard, it’s been performances that have not looked as we wanted them to look, so it was the way we played, the courage and bravery we showed, that was the most pleasing thing.
“We needed to get that first win over the line. We’d spoken about not being anxious and not playing the scoreboard but playing how we want to play and enjoying being out there.
“You could see we were playing without fear. The boys want to win so much and run so hard that it can sometimes manifest as anxiety. We’ve been playing with a little bit of fear, being shy with the ball.
“That’s been the hard thing for me as a coach, you want it to look a certain way and it hasn’t been that – tonight it was that. Now we have to make sure that is us every week.”
Shrews boss Gavin Cowan was furious with his side’s display.
He said: “To say I’m disappointed would be an understatement. It’s such a long way for the fans to come and we wanted to put on a show.
“Firstly, congratulations to Rochdale, they have been desperately looking for some form of result and we knew that from the start, we knew they would control the ball as they have done all season and even though they’ve had numerous losses we knew they’d do that.
“They’ve had three shots on goal and scored all three. We’ve had 16 shots and it didn’t ever feel like we were going to score. Someone said to me our XGs were high again, but that’s irrelevant.
“Take nothing away from Rochdale, they got into a rhythm and grew confident. But there was nothing we’d hadn’t foreseen, nothing we hadn’t spoken about before the game, but we just couldn’t cope.
“I don’t think, as professional footballers, there’s any excuse for not performing in back-to-back games.
“I feel like a yo-yo – apologising for the Fleetwood game, then we play very well against Salford, then I’m apologising again.
“We were really poor. Tonight was all about mentality and we looked devoid of any desire to win.”
