A young Dale side got the preseason campaign off to a winning start, with a 2-1 victory over their Conference North opponents.

Around 300 Dale fans made the journey to the quaint little village of Warton to see Dale take on AFC Fylde. The ground was a new one for the vast majority of those, and had it not been for Sat Navs, quite a few might have struggled to find it hidden behind a caravan park.

Keith Hill opted to put out the youngest Dale side I've ever known, with Ashley Eastham being the veteran of the team. To put into context, our keeper started the game just one month after completing his GCSE's. If Keith Hill's team gets any younger, he'll be picking from a creche.

The starting eleven was: Diba, Rafferty, Bennett, Eastham, McGinty, Tanser, Cannon, Allen, Hery, Park, Camps. It was five at the back for Dale, with no out and out striker. Camps False nine or whatever the modern lingo is.

You could see in the first half that this was a training exercise for the team. Possession was the name of the game as we knocked the ball about. One particular period of play seemed the home side not touch the ball for what felt like five minutes.

Despite dominating possession, it was the home team who had the better chances. Diba pulled off a couple of good saves - one of which was about ten yards outside of the box. Fortunately, the informal nature of the game saved the keeper from what would have been an inevitable red card.

But we took the lead just after the half hour mark. Callum Camps properly hammered the ball into the back of the net from around the penalty spot.

Half time saw the subs having a kick about with Keith Hill's son Sydney, with the resident tannoyman taking every opportunity to remind himself what he sounds like.

Second half was pretty much more of the same, and Dale doubled their lead midway through the half when Scott Tanser fired home following a corner.

Scott Hogan was a late sub, and was it simply a coincidence that with rumours of interest from Leeds that he was given shirt number seventeen, given the apparent superstition of the Leeds owner with that number? Hogan had a great opportunity when he raced through to take advantage of hesitancy from the Fylde sub but his final shot went wide of the post when the whole ground was expecting the net to start bulging.

The home side pulled one back in the last five minutes, but given I wasn't watching at the time, I couldn't even attempt to describe it.

Positives from the game were the two goal scorers who stood out for me. Camps always piratical and looked to be trying to make something happen, whilst Tanser plays with a maturity beyond his years.

Photo: Action Images

Mass_Debater added 10:23 - Jul 13 Tannoyman was more entertaining than ours.
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