United manager Mark Robins has praised the work rate of his side following the 1-1 draw against Rochdale.
The Bank Holiday Monday fixture was the Iron’s second in the space of just 48 hours, whilst Dale’s Boxing Day postponement meant they were naturally fresher heading into the clash.Given the nature of Saturday’s win at local rivals Doncaster Rovers and subsequent energy levels required, Robins was full of applause for the squad.
He told The Iron PlayerHD: “It was a good point. It can’t be underestimated the amount of effort, desire and determination was put in to stop a side that were fresher than us.
“You want to try and change the fact they haven’t had a game (on Boxing Day) into a positive but what you can’t change is the fact we expended a lot of energy on Saturday at Doncaster.
“It was a quick turnaround for us and they’ve had a little bit more of a breather so they had fresh legs and that was the first thing we had to deal with.
“Sometimes there was a lack of quality in the game from both teams but I thought we deserved at least a point from it.
“We could have won it and I think we stood firm to everything they threw at us. They’re a decent side.
“The desire to throw ourselves in front of things and surpass their running at times was absolutely commendable for me.”
Ian Henderson opened the scoring for Keith Hill’s men midway through the opening period before David Mirfin levelled things up 11 minutes later.
Robins was pleased to see the team responded well to going behind and believes it could have resulted in three points, had things gone their way after the break.
“We responded pretty well (to going behind) and got on top,” he continued.
“We got a couple of decent balls into the penalty area and Mirf has reacted really well to Niall Canavan’s header back across goal and stuck it in the top corner.
“His reaction was magnificent and we’ve had a real brave performance in terms of running and throwing our bodies on the line.
“We missed a decent chance from Darius Henderson at the end of the game and were just wishing and willing that to go in the net because it would have been another terrific three points for us.
“It’s disappointing not to win but I would have taken the point before the game. Given the circumstances and the quick turnaround, the players have been phenomenal.”
Another plus point to come out of the match was the performance of goalkeeper Luke Daniels, who made a couple of superb saves and Robins was also full of acclaim for his shot stopper.
He added: “Their delivery is good and they’ve put some decent balls in. We gave away too many fouls for my liking but that’s definitely due to the tired legs.
“We dealt with everything, including the vicious wind at times in terms of bringing the ball in towards the goal.
“Luke has made two really terrific saves and he was brilliant for us.
“The game lacked a bit of quality but I think we can be forgiven for that because they’ve put a massive shift in over the last 48 hours.
“They’ve worked hard over Christmas, they’ve spent a lot of time in the building so they’ll get a bit of a breather now and crack on ahead of the next game against Wigan.”
See much more from Mark Robins, David Mirfin and Luke Daniels on The Iron PlayerHD.
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