Robbie Stockdale blames Rochdale’s pitch for James Ball’s huge miss

Posted Wednesday, March 16, 2022 by PA

Rochdale boss Robbie Stockdale defended James Ball for missing a golden opportunity to clinch victory during his side’s 1-1 draw against Salford.

The midfielder had fired Dale into a first-half lead and, after the visitors had levelled through Matty Lund, could have handed them three points but spooned a shot over the crossbar from four yards.

“I was disappointed that it was set-piece goal that we conceded, but we missed the best chance in the whole game to win it,” said Stockdale.

“James will say himself that he should have scored – but it took a horrendous bobble. Just when you need a little bit of luck and a true bounce…unfortunately that’s where we are with our surface at the minute.

“It was the best move of the game. We opened Salford up just how I want us to play and unfortunately it will go down as one of those bloopers for misses, but it did take a terrible bobble and in the end we come away with another point.

“It was a very competitive game, hard fought. They’ve got some big threats at the top of the pitch and I thought we dealt with that very well. You’re talking about players who have come from Championship clubs, so I was pleased with how we dealt with that.”

Salford conceded after 27 minutes when Lund’s poor pass was intercepted by Ball and he fired past Tom King.

Lund made up for that mistake in the 66th minute, glancing a Stephen Kelly free-kick beyond Jay Lynch to level the score.

Ball’s chance to fire Dale ahead again came in the 74th minute when Liam Kelly’s delivery left him with the goal at his mercy, but he fired over.

Ryan Watson hit a decent chance too high at the other end as the spoils were shared.

Salford manager Gary Bowyer said: “We just haven’t had the quality we needed in the final third and our decision-making let us down.

“We were totally in control of the game and mixed our game up well. Matt Smith was unplayable, he was outstanding and I feel for him, the shift he’s put in – we have got to be better and we have to deliver better service for him.

“For the amount of ball we had against a passing team on a difficult pitch we passed it well and put the ball into the box where we were a threat – but we haven’t produced enough quality on our decision making in that final third.

“It’s a game where we’ve had enough opportunities to win it but we could have lost it when their lad misses from close range.

“We’ve just got to be better, there’s no other way of dressing that up.”