Chester Manager

what the gaffer said what went wrong

"We snatched a draw from the jaws of victory.

"We knew Rochdale was going to be a difficult place to get a result, but we were 2-0 up and we had to do the horrible side of the game which was to keep the ball away from our goal for long periods and spoil their tempo of play.

"We knew they were always going to throw the ball up when they were 2-0 down, but we sat deep and invited the pressure and we didn't do the horrible side of the game well enough.

"I think it was all down to a little bit of naiveity - 2-0 should have been good enough away from home, but we have to learn to put the ball into corners and play in the final third of the pitch.

"We have to learn that we can't afford to entertain after taking a 2-0 lead away from home - we needed to kill the game off. "The pitch was far from ideal to entertain - we needed to get the ball in and around their defenders and score a third goal. Then we could afford to showboat.

"Our passages of play and our tempo in the opening 15 minutes were superb. We were able to cut through them. But all credit to Rochdale because they were able to organise themselves and they stopped us from playing.

"The second half brought a tight encounter and a stalemate, but I thought there should only have been one winner after we got the second goal."

Steve Parkin

Rochdale Manager

"It was a fantastic game and neither set of players disappointed.

"Chester deserved credit for playing attacking football on a tricky pitch that was starting to freeze and my players did well to come back into it."

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