Town recorded their second win on the bounce
Graham Alexander believes this afternoon’s victory over Rochdale is a bigger one for his side than last week’s three points at Bramall Lane.Town made it two wins from two on the hour mark thanks to Josh Morris’ third goal in as many games, which moved them up to eighth in League One.
Victory over Keith Hill’s men means the Cod Army have done the double over their North West rivals this season, having won 2-0 at Spotland in December.
After the game, Alexander said: “It was a great effort from the lads. It was vitally important that we followed up last week’s win with another positive today.
“That’s the first time since the start of the season that we’ve done that. Last week was brilliant but this is a bigger win for us.
“It shows the players are hungry and motivated to keep the ball rolling and the momentum.
“First half we didn’t hit the heights we should have, and maybe that was down to the formation and I take responsibility for that.
“We were right at in the second half and caused them all sorts of problems.
“We caused them a lot of trouble in the second half and it was a fantastic goal to win the game.
“We know Josh’s qualities and that he can score from anywhere. He’s got a great left foot and his work ethic for the team is superb as well.
“Rochdale hit a lot of diagonals to their big men out wide, and we weren’t really competing well at that level, but in the second half we did.
“We made it a proper game and our performance ensured we came out on top.”
Alexander was full of praise for his players’ for grinding out a vital three points, and admitted he has been impressed by the way they’ve adapted to League One.
“We’ve got a lot of experience in the squad and we’ve got a lot of young boys as well.
“There’s only three players who started today’s game who are different from last season.
“It’s pleasing for us that all those lads have stepped up to this level and are competing.
“It’s fantastic to see that the lads who have played in the non-league are stepping up to this level.
“Pondy has played non-league so too Chris Maxwell. We got Tyler Forbes on a free, Jamie Proctor on a free, and also Nick Haughton.
“It’s brilliant that we can go out there and show a different way of recruiting, and still bring in quality and make them better.”