Hill unhappy with defence

Keith Hill felt his Rochdale defenders should have protected the forwards better during the 1-1 draw against Gillingham at Spotland.

Dale missed a host of chances to put the game to bed before the break, but only had Peter Vincenti's 25th-minute goal to show for their dominance. Though Cody McDonald went close just before the interval for the Gills, Dale continued to boss the match after the break. But they were left to rue wasted opportunities when McDonald scored a scrappy leveller in the 83rd minute. "I was reasonably happy with the performance and the chances created," said Hill. "On another day that could easily have been a 4-0 win. ''What I'm annoyed about is the fact that it clearly wasn't the strikers day, so we had to make sure it was a protection day. Our defence had to look after our strikers. ''The goal was very scrappy and our young players have got to protect the strikers better than they did. We should have been coming back into the dressing room with the strikers saying 'thanks for that' to our defenders. That was a massive learning curve for them." Gillingham boss Peter Taylor was pleased by the fight that his players showed to get back into the game. He said: "We had some good chances in the second half and the only thing I can say is that I was delighted with the character of the players. I think that we stuck at it. ''We didn't give in and if we were to stop making wrong decisions, then we will bring more confidence into our game. We make wrong decisions and we put ourselves under pressure and that's why at times we're on the back foot. Sometimes we caused ourselves problems but the work rate of players and the belief that they could get back into it was very good. "The goal may have looked like an ugly one but he still had a lot to do, a little chip on it to get in the air because if it was on the floor, it could have been blocked. I'm pleased that he got the goal because we need him to be confident, and it will be great for him. ''We had a good counter attack threat today. We proved that we could fight. We're not a lucky team at the minute but even if we didn't get the point today, I would have still said that the lads had character and they kept believing." Breaking news, transfer gossip, line ups and goal alerts from your football club - delivered direct to your mobile. Sign up for Sky Sports Alerts