Woking manager Neal Ardley praised his side’s second-half performance after they drew 1-1 at home to Rochdale in the National League.

The Cards trailed 1-0 at half-time, and Ardley was delighted with his side’s response after the break.

“We were disappointing with the ball in the first half,” said Ardley.

“Maybe I worked too hard to keep the play condensed and stop Rochdale doing what they're good at – that probably showed with our intention with the ball at times.

“I think we were a bit safe and a bit negative up until Rochdale’s goal.

“It's one long straight ball – tactically there's nothing about that – that's people tracking runners.

“Up until that it was working well – we weren't great with the ball but Rochdale hadn't really created anything.

“Then we lost our way for 15 minutes and became a bit erratic.

“I needed to do something different at half-time to give the boys a chance of taking the game to Rochdale.

“I didn't want to wait. I didn't want to stick with the same shape.

“I threw caution to the wind.

“We could have ended up getting beat two or three if we had got it wrong, but we didn't.”

While Ardley’s tactical tweak had the desired result after the break, the Woking boss was keen to make sure his players got credit for carrying out his instructions.

“To a man they were excellent in the second half,” said Ardley.

“We asked questions of Rochdale and we got the reward in the end.

“You need the players to carry out the plan.

“We were trying to get our full-backs out and trying to be brave, but if we had lost the ball we could have got counter-attacked and lost the game.

“We had to take those risks.

“The boys had to execute it well and they did – they stepped up.

“I challenged them at half-time to step up and be better with the ball and try to run all over Rochdale, and I thought to a degree they did that well.”

The Cards got back on level terms through Harry Beautyman’s 87th-minute penalty, after Joshua Osude had been fouled in the Rochdale box by Kyron Gordon, and Ardley felt the right decision was made by referee Richie Watkins.

“I think it was a penalty,” said Ardley.

“I'm glad the referee, the fourth official and the assistant referee all talked together because it's a big decision. He took his time and he got it right.

“I would have been very disappointed had that not been a penalty – you can't challenge someone in the box and not get there.

“We've had the chance at the end to win it but hit the post, but Rochdale had one in the first half.

“The boys have put a shift in against a good Rochdale team and it's another point to where we need to go.

“We want to win games, but every point matters.

“We don't play for draws but we try to make ourselves hard enough to beat to get them when things aren't going well.”