Dale can consider themselves very unlucky to have left Griffin Park with nothing to show for their travels, after a particularly fine display. They had the divisional favourites in all sorts of bother at times, and were well on top for long periods of the game.

Dale made the trip to the capital and returned with their usual London result losing 2-1 at the hands of a physical Brentford side. However, there were many things to return optimistic about the defeat. This was, in my opinion, Dale's best away perfomance in the last two seasons (97/98 and 98/99). They more than matched the team who are favourites to win the title and can consider themselves unlucky not to take all three points.

Brentford started like a house on fire and took the lead in the second minute, when tall defender Powell had a free header in the Dale goalmouth to give Neil Edwards no chance at all. This prompted one Dale supporter to immediately call for Barrow's resignation. There is a lot of supporters who feel that Barrow is not the man for the job, but surely calling for him to quit 90 seconds into a match is slightly premature? It can be of no benefit whatsoever to the team to hear this sort of thing during the match. This lead to one or two unfortunate comments being passed between the supporters, as fans reacted to the call for Barrow's head. As I have said on the letters page, there are not enough of us to be arguing amongst ourselves, especially during a match. This sort of incident occurred a couple of times last year leading to ugly events. Let's hope there is no repeat of that.

Anyway, back to the match. Brentford continued to attack and it was starting to look like a cricket score would be on the cards for the home side. However Dale withstood this five minute barrage, and then began to press more. Mark Stuart, playing very close to his birthplace, produced a long range effort which just went over the bar.

Dale got a well deserved equaliser when recent signing Isidrio Diaz put a crossed ball into the gaping net. Dale then looked to go on and win the game. Brentford's attacks became as rare as a Dale away win, and Dale put the home side under a great deal of pressure. Diaz and Stuart were causing all sorts of problems for the home side, who found no way of halting them. Despite both playing on the wings, they are also linking up well with each other.

The second half started as the first half ended with Dale pressing forward towards the end homing the vociferous Dale support who sensed victory would be at hand. Mark Bailey had a great long range effort which crept past the post from outside the box. Time and again, Izzy and Stuey caused havoc in the home side defence, producing excellent crosses, but Dale could not grab the advantage.

Brentford restored their lead eventually, but Dale still maintained their attacking style, but to no avail. The final whistle brought a well deserved ovation from the travelling supporters who recognised the hard work put in by the players. the players were as gutted as the fans were, if not more so, as they trooped off. They knew that they had not got what they deserved for an excellent display.

This was almost everything that the Dale fans could ask for. A hardworking attacking display with some great flair from our 2 wingers. You could say that this still did not produce a result. True, but so far we have played three of the relegated teams away from home and took three points. If we play like this every week, we will be there or there about come the end of the season. Robbie Painter is struggling playing as the lone frontman. His lack of height is one of the reasons that we did not punish Brentford as we should have done. This leads to 2 possibilities. One we drop Robbie and we play a tall striker such as David Gray or Mark Leonard up front. Gray was given 2 minutes at Brentford which was not long enough to judge him. We may have to go out and buy a tall striker. Mark Sale was looked at but is not available. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of big strikers going, and those there are are quite pricey. Would we rather have some 6'4" donkey up front in the side purely because of height? Anyone remember Paul Williams? The other possibility is to get Stuart and Diaz to vary their crossing so that some crosses come along the floor giving Painter or Lancashire an advantage in this area.

All the players gave their all. Paul Sparrow who has disappointed so far, came on towards the end and came out with a first rate tackle which may have prevented a goal. On this display I feel sure that GB is getting it right and the good times are on their way. Diaz is possibly the most exciting player we have had at this club in recent history. Anyone who sees him in full effect will return to see him again. He is so obviously a class above; he embarrasses the opposing defenders with his skills.

Dale: Edwards, Bayliss(Sparrow), Stokes, Farrell, Monington, Hill, Diaz, Painter, Bailey (Jones), Bryson (Gray), Stuart.

Photo: Action Images

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