Rochdale boss happy to make his point

Rochdale boss Brian Barry-Murphy felt his side were good value for their point against Wigan Athletic - after trailing to a 'disappointing' goal that looked like it would prove decisive.

The 10-man home side forced a 96th-minute leveller through Stephen Humphrys in a six-goal thriller at Spotland.

It looked as though Will Keane's volley 13 minutes from time would give Latics three priceless points, but it was not to be.

“Spotland is the place to be it seems for entertainment – just not the right entertainment from my point of view," acknowledged Barry-Murphy.

“It was a very disappointing performance from our point of view in that first half. But the lads showed in the second half what it looks like to be us.

“The challenge for us as we develop and get more experience is to show that all the time and not sporadically.

"Because if we don’t find that consistency there will be moments in the season that will undermine the potential within the squad.”

Humphrys had given Dale an early lead, before Kyle Joseph and Callum Lang nosed Latics ahead.

The visitors were further boosted by the sending-off of Dale defender Jim McNulty just before half-time, but Jake Beesley managed to take advantage of defensive hesitancy at the back to level just before the hour mark.

“Jake has been consistent all the time in the way he has played, his work rate, his effort and his skill," enthused Barry-Murphy.

"In my mind there was never a second where I thought he wasn’t going to score, because I thought he was one of the bravest players I have ever seen, he has got one of the best jumps I ever seen and the goalkeeper was never going to get to that ball.

"It was an amazing act of courage from him and fully deserved.

“I thought Wigan’s third goal from our point of view was disappointing, but we’ve got Jimmy Keohane and Haydon Roberts defending cross after cross from two big strikers and they did that amazingly.

“The courage those lads at centre-half showed for such a long spell was testament to them.

"I thought we’d come back and get a chance but I was just disappointed we left ourselves in that situation again when I felt as if we should have been much more dominant in the first half.”

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