Full reserve report from tonight's victory at Dark Lane online now.

Kyle Lambert and Will Buckley both got their names on the score sheet in what was a closely contested affair at Rossendale United's Dark Lane tonight. 

I must say before I start however, that it was a very flattering scoreline with Accrington fluffing a worryingly large amount of shots, but I’ll go into that in more detail further down. 

Rochdale lined up 4-3-3 

Daniel Hanford.

George Bowyer, Julio Barnes, Raphale Evans, Kris King.

Reece Kelly, Kyle Lambert, Michael O’Connor.

Simon Williams, Ben Wharton, Will Buckley. 

I was told before the game that Marcus Holness, Nathan D’Laryea and Joe Thompson were all set to start tonight, however last night’s events put an end to that. 

Having got into the ground at around ten past seven,  it’s been kindly pointed out to me by SDH that I missed the first goal, which was an unfortunate Raphale Evans own goal in the favour of Accrington who were certainly the strongest side in the first half. 

But once inside, it became blatantly apparent that Stanley were causing Dale allsorts of problems, with chance after chance falling to ex Rochdale striker Leighton McGivern.

McGivern’s first shot at goal went straight to Daniel Hanford with Dale’s counter attack ending in a rather wasteful/speculative effort from midfield Kyle Lambert, who’s shot from outside the area was never going to bother Ian Dunbavin. 

Accrington continued to press, with their confidence obviously boosted from the early own goal, with one of their midfielders slicing a half chance wide of Hanford’s near post as well as their number 2 making a right balls up of a quality ball from Shaun Whaley who was causing Dale allsorts of problems on the left side of defence. 

McGivern was put through soon after with a lovely ball from midfield, but just like many of his opportunities tonight, he failed to score with Hanford pulling off a very good quality save. The result corner eventually found it’s way to McGivern again, but his curling effort was nowhere near Hanford’s top corner. 

Dale managed to break away during a lull in Accrington’s attacks with Kyle Lambert setting Ben Wharton through on goal, only for Dunbavin to bring down the former Stockport County forward. Despite converting the penalty, Wharton was obviously hurt from Dunbavin’s challenge and found himself substituted straight after the restart. 

Accrington’s next chance was almost immediately after the substitution with McGivern being put through once again, however he once again picked out Hanford with a very tame effort. And it was the same again minutes later, as McGivern was put through on goal, smashing an effort off Hanford’s post.

And if he thought he was getting closer, he was put through by another very similar ball, smashing his short hard and low at Hanford who some how manage to deflect the ball onto the post with his legs. 

But if we were to be worried about the threat that McGivern was posing Rochdale in the first half, it was Will Buckley who taught Accrington a goalscoring lesson as he hit the first of his brace with a sweet shot past Dunbavin from the right side of the area. 

Soon after that, came the very comical referee’s clamp down on the chavish antics from Accrington’s younger players.

The first to be booked was McGivern for mouthing off. With a second player booked in a matter of seconds after McGivern. 

Buckley found himself through on goal before half time, but his effort, despite beating Dunbavin, rolled wide. But it wasn’t the last bit of action as

Accrington’s number 16 found himself dismissed for what I can only presume was dissent. 

So Dale found themselves 2-1 up at half time, and having seemingly weathered the Accrington storm, came out looking to kill the game off. 

Michael O’Connor had the fist opportunity of the half, coming close from outside the area. With Buckley putting Lambert through shortly after, with his deflected effort not quite crossing Dunbavin’s line. 

McGivern started the second half just like he had played in the first, missing another opportunity which was definitely harder to miss than score shortly after that. 

Accrington then continued to waste their chances upfront after Shaun Whaley was fouled by Raphale Evans outside the penalty area, which was the defender’s fault in the first place for letting the original ball go under his foot.

The result free-kick was straight out of the John Doolan text book, into the wall. Rochdale soon found themselves down to ten men soon after with Kyle Lambert being sent off for lashing out at one of the Accrington players.

And despite it being a stupid sending off in the first place, his “it was an accident” argument was rather amusing. But despite the dismissal, Rochdale carried on applying the pressure with Will Buckley forcing two saves out of Ian Dunbavin in a matter of seconds.

The first save was parried away back into the path of the players by Dunbavin, with midfielder Reece Kelly forcing it through to Buckley, but Dunbavin was on hand again to keep Buckley out. 

But the move of the night came shortly after was one of the Dale defender’s sent Otis Williams sprinting down the right wing, his cross was cleared, but only as far as Will Buckley, who’s one-two move with Michael O’Connor was superb, with Buckley then running on into the area, with finishing the game off with a simple effort to Dunbavin’s left. 

The last chance of the game, before my hands froze, fell to Otis Williams, who just couldn’t control the ball well enough, with Dunbavin plucking the ball from his feet. 

All in all it was a very impressive performance by Rochdale’s reserves with Daniel Hanford, Reece Kelly, Will Buckley, Michael O’Connor, Ben Wharton and Otis Williams all deserving a mention for the performance they put in tonight. 

Also it’s good to hear that Wharton’s ankle injury isn’t too serious and he should be back playing for the youth/reserve teams very soon.

Photo: Action Images

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