Report: Dale 0 Carlisle 0
Tuesday, 16th Aug 2011 23:27 by Col

I suppose the writing was on the wall when writing the match preview and I wrote that given the number of goals in our last two home matches, there was pretty much no chance of a goalless draw. Full report now online

In truth, this game had 0-0 written on it from early on and few were surprised at the final outcome. It wasn't the dullest of goalless draws, and it could certainly have gone either way. Certainly, there's been many a game like this over the years where the visiting side had nicked one late on, and we weren't a million miles away ourselves.

It was a game of half chances for both sides, and neither keeper really had to be at their best to ensure that they got their clean sheet bonuses this week. There was some nice football, often disrupted by an official suffering a bad day at the office, but ultimately no one could argue with the result being a fair one

We had just the one change from Saturday's team, with Joe Thompson rewarded for his sub efforts with a starting berth with Jason Kennedy dropped to the bench. This allowed us to play what was the most obvious 4-4-2 that we've seen so far from Steve Eyre. In doing so, it took us a while to get used to it.

The early stages saw a very open game, following a very similar pattern to what we've seen so far in previous games. As mentioned above, both teams were playing good passing football and the best chances seemed to flow from good individual movement. Carlisle possibly looked a little more dangerous in these early stages, and they played in such a way that you don't normally associate with an away side.

As the half progressed, we certainly grew in strength suggesting that possibly there is an issue with how we are starting games. What we did with the ball, there are no complaints about, but we do seem to allow the opposition to football their way through us in that first fifteen to twenty minutes. Fortunately tonight, Carlisle were not able to take advantage of this but we've witnessed three times this season us giving ourselves a mountain to climb.

Going forward we looked threatening enough. We had one excellent move in which we passed the ball around, before Gary Jones let fly from the edge of the box but his effort went well wide. We had a few more sniffs often from the unlikeliest of sources. Once corner saw Marcus Holness trying a shot on the turn from within the penalty box, and his defensive partner Neal Trotman did well before failing with a weak finish. Thompson came close with a header which would have been well deserved for his efforts.

As the game approached the end of the first half, we saw the referee becoming the most influential person on the pitch. He was first called into action when Akpa Akpro tried dinking the ball past his challenging defender. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, he timed it horribly and completely took out his opponent. Incredibly clumsy, but not in the slightest bit malicious, and the referee got it spot on by awarding him just a yellow card despite huge cries from the travelling support for a sending off.

But seconds before the end of the first half, the referee got in on it again. Andrew Tutte produced a stunning tackle on the edge of the Dale penalty box, winning the ball and playing it all in one move. There wasn't even a hint of a foul, but not according to referee Brown who didn't even hesitate in awarding the free kick. This set piece led to the game's best chance when Peter Murphy's effort grazed the woodwork on the way out as the home support let out a collective sigh of relief.

As has been par for the course so far, we came out looking strong in the second half, and Ashley Grimes almost added another moment to his collection. Those quick feet of his earned himself a chance but his shot was well saved by Carlisle keeper Collin.

Five minutes into the second half, and the referee was at it again. We had an even bigger talking point than the Tutte free kick when JLAA was dragged down on the edge of the box. He got goal side and immediately dragged down. Anywhere else on the pitch, it would have been a free kick, but given its proximity to the penalty area and a decision required that would have seen Michalik sent off against Dale for a second successive season, nothing was given. In fairness to the referee, on this occasion he'd looked to his linesman for inspiration as he was in perfect position to call it but there was nothing and what seemed just a case of whether it was inside or outside the box went begging.

The highlight of the referee's poor showing came midway through the second half. He blew his whistle and then did nothing. And the crowd waited to see who was being given the free kick. And so did the benches. In fact, the benches even had time to discuss with each other about which way it was going to, such was the length of time we had to endure before eventually deciding a Carlisle player had been at fault. Frankie Bunn and his Carlisle counterpart Kavanagh could only laugh in those circumstances.

As the game progressed, it was probably Carlisle who looked more likely to break the deadlock but only marginally so. We looked a little tired late on but with ten of our starting eleven having played all 390 minutes so far in the space of ten days, it's not that surprising. Thompson was brought off after a decent performance for a debut for Paul Marshall and the former Walsall did alright when introduced, but the result had been written in stone long before the two minutes of additional time had been displayed.

Both teams will take positives from this and Dale loanee keeper Jake Kean should be rightly pleased with his clean sheet. Although he didn't win the man of the match award, he looked very assured between the sticks and certainly dominated.

We looked a lot more solid at the back. Fair enough, we weren't playing a side that was as much of an attacking threat that Huddersfield were, but there was a simplicity adopted which benefitted and certainly Trotman and Holness looked far more assured together than they had done in the previous three games.

So another point in the bag, another game without defeat, and with the promise of new recruits on the way, there's certainly grounds for optimism amongst the Dale support.

Photo: Action Images

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geraldo added 12:25 - Aug 17

I agree with your take on the game and I am also concerned about our fragility in midfield allowing the opposition too much time and space on the ball.
As well as another striker I would like to see us sign a midfield enforcer as Jonah's pace is starting to wane ( not surprisingly)
I thought that JT had a good game but really needs to learn to head the ball down from a cross - I would not have brought him off and indeed would have preferred JK to Marshall who seems really lethargic on the ball.
Difficult to see where a win will come from until we add to the squad......