Record-breaker Ian Henderson fully deserves plaudits – Jim Bentley

Posted Wednesday, November 09, 2022 by PA

Rochdale boss Jim Bentley was happy for match-winner Ian Henderson to take the plaudits following his side’s 1-0 win over Salford.

Henderson became Dale’s all-time leading goalscorer when he netted his 130th goal for the club in the 80th minute of the game, heading home Ethan Brierley’s intelligent delivery.

The experienced frontman was given a guard of honour on the field after the game, but boss Bentley was in no doubt as to the source of celebration.

He said: “Three points for the team is the biggest thing – Hendo will get all the pats on the back and the plaudits and rightly so, he fully deserves them.

“He’s been a fantastic servant for this club and to get that record is an unbelievable achievement. So I’m really pleased for him, really pleased for the team.

“I said to him before the game I just had a feeling tonight was going to be his night, underneath the floodlights in a derby against his former club.

“It was a tough game against tough opposition – well drilled, well coached. They are an ambitious club with good players in their ranks. We were disappointed at the weekend (losing in the FA Cup at Bristol Rovers) and we asked for a reaction and we got one.

“Our Achilles heel at the minute is getting into good positions but missing the end product. Credit to the players, they kept going because you could sense for the first time tonight a little bit of frustration, a little bit of panic. I could hear a couple of the shouts behind me, but it’s important in any game to stay calm.”

A poor first half saw Salford go close through Ryan Watson before the game came alive after the interval with Dale’s Devante Rodney seeing an effort saved by Tom King early on.

Marcus Dackers blazed a gilt-edged chance over the bar and Luke Bolton hit the post from Ethan Galbraith’s delivery before Brierley teed up Henderson for his landmark goal, the frontman timing his run to perfection and heading beyond King.

Salford boss Neil Wood said: “We were in control of the game and it hurts – I didn’t see us losing the game and I still don’t know how we’ve lost it considering the amount of domination we had.

“It’s a similar story to what we’ve been saying for the last couple of months – we need to be more clinical in front of goal, more ruthless in that final third.

“We had 29 crosses and only six were successful. That’s a real problem for us because we played some excellent football, created some excellent chances and it’s just so frustrating that the final piece of quality is missing at the minute. That, combined with some naive schoolboy defending, cost us.”