Rochdale boss Brian Barry-Murphy was proud of his side last night despite their defeat on penalties to Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup.
The Premier League giants took the lead in the second-half through highly-rated Mason Greenwood, only for the Dale to peg them back in the 76th minute through 16-year-old Luke Matheson.
United overcame a scare against their League One opponents by being ruthless in the penalty shootout.
Barry-Murphy spoke to Rochdale’s official club website after the match: “The players gave everything, as they have done in a lot of recent games, even though we haven’t had results in the league that reflect that. It was a great night for the Club, and I think we portrayed ourselves in the manner that we believe we represent. The supporters and the whole town came out in numbers that had to be seen to be believed.”
“I think it’s a very, very successful night for all of our players. We didn’t lose the game; we got a result at Old Trafford. We took the game into penalties which we thought we could win. I don’t think it’s a one off [performance]. Our players have displayed great courage and resoluteness in tough games this season.”
He added: “I believed that if we were still in it going deep into the game, then we would create chances. We’ve got dangerous players in the final third and we created a couple of good chances before we scored.”
Rochdale’s next game is against Wycombe Wanderers at Spotland this weekend.
