U's lacked quality in the final third - Ward (From Gazette)

U's lacked quality in the final third - Ward

6:59pm Saturday 25th February 2012 in Sport By Jonathan Waldron

Colchester United manager John Ward admitted his side found it difficult to break a stubborn Rochdale team down this afternoon.

The U's were held to a goal-less draw by the Dale, in a tight game of few chances at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

Ward said: “We couldn’t find that final bit of quality in the last 30 yards of the pitch that we needed.

“We’ve taken a point and of course we wanted more than that, because we were the home side.

“But when you look at the whole scheme of things, we played Rochdale at a time when they’re in good form and had a change of management.

“We couldn’t find the opening but we stopped them getting the opening and you have to take what comes over 46 games.

“Sometimes over the course of a season you’re going to get disappointments like this.

“We’ve made sure that we’ve worked hard and been disciplined but we won the ball enough times to be better at it.

“Charlton and Bournemouth couldn’t break Rochdale down over recent games so it’s not a big surprise to me and I did try and tell everybody that."

See Monday's Gazette for more reaction to Colchester United's draw with Rochdale, along with a match report and pictures.