2010-11 comes to a close with a trip to the seaside, three points and that rarest of things – a match report.

With Bournemouth having sold an increased number of tickets to home supporters on the basis that this could have been a do or die encounter between the two clubs, Dale fans were housed in a corner of their South Stand which was nowt but a temporary enclosure.

The 400 Dale fans were in fine voice, despite much of it disappearing into the Macclesfield like structure above our heads, and the last day of the season Retro Day saw a great number of the supporters wearing kits from seasons where finishing 89th in the Football League was ambition. It’s always worth reminding ourselves from time to time how times have changed.

The game itself was something of a dead rubber but whilst there might not have been too much to play for, it didn’t prevent there being a massively competitive edge to the game. We weren’t afforded a last run out for the Premiership bound Craig Dawson, with Jason Kennedy joining him on the sidelines, but that aside, Hill didn’t take the chance to blood any of the youth title winning squad.

It was a decent game, with both sides playing decent football , but it was certainly an easy afternoon for goalkeepers in the early stages with all the good play from both sides cancelling each other out before it got close to the shot stage, and Fred Done would probably have announced that he’d paid out on a goalless draw in the opening ten minutes.

That said, the home side took the lead when…….. I don’t know. I was checking for updates from Lincoln and Barnet at the time. You can take the boy out of League Two but….  And it wasn’t helped when I asked those watching what happened only to be told “I don’t know”. Top class football journalism this. But thanks to the last ever Football League Show, I am happy to report that a corner for the Cherries came over from the left and rebounded off what appears to be Josh Thompson’s chest into the back of the net.

But perhaps with the pressure off due to the nature of this game, it had little impact on the run of the game, and it led to us having our best spell of play within the game. It was everything that you expect from Dale – neat passing and movement, looking for that killer ball, but when that killer ball wasn’t available, you do what Matty Done did and just have a crack from distance. From around five yards outside the Bournemouth, he had a shot when there didn’t even seem like being a shot available to him. 1-1 and we were in the ascendancy.

Whilst it may have looked like an end of season run of the mill going through the motions game to anybody outside of Dean Court, no one told JLAA and he had an absolute crunching tackle with his opposite number on the Bournemouth side, and whilst there was no sign of malice from either player, it was a wincing moment, and both players eventually left the field due to knocks sustained from that tackle.

After a half time where 2,500 people took part in a lap of honour , the second half saw the home side with the majority of the play, but were very much like that Keith Hill soft porn quote from a couple of years back. A couple of regulation saves from the Welshman apart, they never looked like getting on to the scoresheet and those who have been watching football for many a year will know that the game was always going to see Dale sneak a breakaway goal.

That said, the home side thought they were back in front just a few minutes into the second half when the vast majority of the home fans ignored the waving flag from the linesman and celebrated Lovell’s neat finish from inside the six yard box. I can still picture one Bournemouth fan pointing to the Dale fans, before turning round to ask why we were all on our feet celebrating. These are great moments.

A couple of changes were made, and it appeared for all the world that we’d settled for a draw when we withdrew Chris O’Grady and stuck young Reece Gray on. Gray looked like a fish out of water and undoubtedly, there were ball boys yesterday who towered above him, but his continued presence on the bench, with his occasional cameos is testament to the faith that Hill and Flitcroft have in him. He’s definitely a talent, but we may yet have to wait to find out where his final position lies.

Not far from where I was stood, a voice cried out in sarcasm “stick it on Reece Gray’s head”. But that was what Nicky Adams did with a superb cross and the young striker even had to duck down to get his head on it. He hit it perfectly to give himself the first goal in his fledgling career with what turned out to be the winning goal. You almost hope that post-game he put an arm around Chris O’Grady and said to him “that’s how you score a header son”.

The celebrations in the packed out away coop were mirrored in the dugout, and it must be fantastic to see young talent that the management team have put their faith in reward them in this way. The 18 year old may well have waited almost a full season for his chance, but boy did he take it.

The last ten minutes following Gray’s goal were pretty much redundant. The home team were beaten, and the three points were safely packed away a long time before that final whistle went. A very late goal at Hillsborough meant that we had to settle for just our equal best ever league finish rather than beating it. Settle? Oh Keith, where did all go wrong?

At the close of play, a couple of hundred local oiks ran on to the pitch and raced their way towards the end where the Dale fans were housed only to appear somewhat confused when they faced a set of fans with no interest in them whatsoever, and it was refreshing to hear the rest of the home support to vocally condemn them as they did.

That final whistle brought an end to the latest chapter in the Hill and Flitcroft story, and it’s not even arguable anymore to suggest that this has been their best season yet. For Hill and Flitcroft, read Morrissey and Marr, read Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, read Kylie and Jason, read Lennon and McCartney, and whilst if apart we might just be left with the Frog Chorus, together they are simply genius, and there is not enough superlatives left in this world to describe the job they have done at Spotland.

2010-11 will be remembered as the season where we stepped into the unknown of higher division football  and a myriad of “I’ll be happy with 20th” predictions disappeared as we looked up to infinity and beyond. Teams that we spent our childhood watching on Match of the Day were despatched with such ease that we travelled to a ground that just six years earlier we were plucky FA Cup hopefuls and now we went fully expecting victory. 

History has been made and changed.

We may well have seen many an advert over the past few months from next season’s sponsors proclaiming that Rochdale is the town that changed the world, but for us it may as well be “Rochdale, the team that proved you wrong”. For those who turned their nose up at last season’s promotion, those who laughed as we recruited players from the bottom four of League Two, those who tipped us with patronising sincerity to bravely lose our battle to relegation, those with the fourteen points obsession – yet again, we have been left with the last laugh. This really has been the best trip we’ve ever been on.

Cheers Keith, see you in August.

Photo: Action Images

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