Saints have met Rochdale before, surprised then read on.

Saints & Rochdale are spending only their second season together in the same division, the only other time they have met in League action was in 1958/59 the first year that the North & South Divisions of the Football League were scrapped and Divisions three & four introduced in their place, this brought the two sides into competition for the first time.

The first ever meeting of the two clubs took place at the Dell on 2nd February 1959 and Saints romped home 6-1, Saints had been on the fringes of the promotion race, and had had a good FA Cup run losing to Blackpool in front of nearly 30k at the Dell, in fact the last home league game before this one had seen 21k, but this first home league game for five weeks came on the back of three straight away defeats and perhaps this aligned with it being a midweek re arranged fixture meant that only 7,193 showed up.

However they would not be disapointed as Saints were 2-1 up at the break through Hoskins and Mulgrew and then just after the restart, Derek Reeves hit two in as many minutes to efectively finish the game as a contest, the scoring was finished off by Hoskins and Mulgrew netting again to leave three players on a brace at the final whistle and a 6-1 victory.

Foe the return at Spotland, Saints were well out of the promotion race and Rochdale were heading for the fourth division with six games to go, however they were still fighting and a 3,948 crowd saw them avenge the defeat on the South Coast with a 77th minute goal by Cooper.

If football fans had chanted back then, the visiting Saints supporters may well have been singing "We will never play you again" however they would have been wrong as just over two years later Saints would be back at Spotland .

This time it was in the first round of the 1961/62 League Cup, it had been launched the previous season as most grounds now had floodlights and the 7,783 who attended was almost double the league attendance two years earlier, Saints who were now in division two fancied their chances, but rarely threatened in a dull game, but felt confident for the return.

That confidence must have been shared by the fans as only 5,549 turned up, only around a third of the average, but they were to be shocked as two goals shortly after the break from Bimpson gave Dale a lead they would not lose, Reeves pulled one back in the final minute but Saints rued missed chances.

Rochdale would of course soften the blow by reaching the final of the competition, then played over two legs where they would lose 3-0 at home and 1-0 away to Norwich City.

We drew them again in the league cup in 1965, funny how we have met them 3 times in this competition over the years, but never in the FA Cup, or Champions League come to that.

65/66 was the start of a big year for Saints and we had started well when the Dale arrived at the Dell with 12,188 there to welcome them, Martin Chivers had put Saints 2-0 up within 25 minutes and he completed his hat trick in the 88th minute, scoing all the goals in a 3-0 win, Saints promotion side was already well formed and when you think that included in that side were Terry Paine who would play in Englands World Cup team the following summer, Martin Chivers who would go on to play for England as well as Jimmy Melia who had, John Sydenham who should have, not forgetting George O'Brien who although not representing his Country, Scotland, hit 180 goals for Saints in only 281 appearances, including 11 in 16 starts in this season before hepatitis in November 1965 brought his Saints career to an unhappy end.  

It would be almost 25 years to the day before we would meet again, and again it was the same competition, now called the Rumbelows Cup and in a two legged second round tie Saints travelled to Spotland first, when you look at the team Saints put out, it was no shock that they won 5-0 at a Canter, Chris Nicholl's teams knew only how to attack and the team was

Flowers.

Dodd, Ruddock, Osman, Adams.

Le Tissier, Horne, Cockerill, Cook.

Shearer, Rod Wallace.

Ironically it was goaless at half time, then Alan Shearer scored immediately after the break and in the final fifteen minutes the visitors expressed their superiority with further strikes by Shearer, Horne, Wallace & Ruddock to send most of the 3,855 crowd home shellshocked.

The home leg a week or two later was a formality, although Saints still put out a fairly strong side, but the hero would be a 19 year old making his debut, Nicky Banger hit a hat trick to suggest that Aaln Shearer might have some competition. For the record 6,754 saw him do it.

Back then it was said Northern sides trained on pie & chips and Saints supporters in the Bedford pub after the Game were amazed as the Rochdale team coach pulled up outside and the players piled in for a quick pint whilst the after match meals were ordered from the chippy next door.

So there we have it, Saints V Rochdale the complete record, played 7, Saints wins 4, Rochdale wins 2, Draws 1.   

Photo: Action Images

BITTERNEBOY added 09:55 - Sep 2 I thought we met them in 1965 in the League Cup following our 9 3 Win over Wolves and won 4 0
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