Brian Barry-Murphy proud of how Rochdale rallied

Interim boss Brian Barry-Murphy hailed his Rochdale players for the way they rounded off a tough week with a 2-1 win against Shrewsbury.

Dale sacked the most successful manager in the club’s history on Monday when they parted ways with Keith Hill, and Barry-Murphy was asked to take charge of a shell-shocked group of players.

However, goals from Kgosi Ntlhe and Jim McNulty secured a first home win wince Boxing Day and closed the gap between the relegation-threatened club and the safety zone to three points.

“It’s a great victory for the players and everyone associated with the club,” said Barry-Murphy, who has been put in charge for an unspecified ‘block of games’.

“We put a lot of effort into this week after what was a very difficult week for the players – they expended a lot of emotion early in the week, so to roll off the week with a win was euphoric. They deserved it, they showed a lot of courage.

“I’m proud of how the players have rallied, though I didn’t expect anything different.

“They showed great attitude this week and they have wanted to correct our home form for a while. Getting the performance to do that justice was really key for us.

“I thought there were elements of the game that were very good from us and gave us a lot of belief going forward.”

The Shrews pulled a goal back when Greg Docherty slotted home in the 90th minute and during a tense finale they struck the crossbar through Aaron Amadi-Holloway, but Dale held on.

“I’m disappointed because I didn’t think we played as well as we have been doing,” Shrewsbury boss Sam Ricketts said.

“We’ve conceded off set-pieces, which is bitterly disappointing as it gave them a foothold in the game.

“We got back in it, scored one and could and should have scored more. We had good opportunities, especially in the first half.

“Their second goal was offside and had that been ruled out, as it should have been, we maybe get a draw.

“I felt we were good enough to come here and win, and that’s what we tried to do, but unfortunately we weren’t quite at it on the day.

“We nearly drew the game, hitting the crossbar in the final seconds, and maybe we should have scored and at least be walking away with something.”