| Emotions were certainly mixed at the final whistle. On the one hand, we would all have took this result at the start of the day. A point away at the league leaders is not to be sniffed at, and given that we went into the game without a keeper and arguably our best two central defenders, it makes the point all the more precious.
But on the other hand, it looked for all the world that we had done enough to secure all three points, as Chesterfield offered nothing in response to a resolute and controlled Dale display. What's worse, is that this was the second away game in succession where we have let the victory slip in the dying seconds of a game. Victories at Hartlepool and Chesterfield would have done our season the world have good.
But ultimately, you have to be satisfied that this was another fine Dale display, in which he frustrated, controlled and in many ways outplayed the best team in the division. Whether this was an off day for them or not fails to appreciate the hard work put in by the Dale players which should have brought them the reward of all three points.
Around 500 Dale fans made the journey to a wintry Saltergate boosting the crowd to 4,338. It seemed very strange seeing their home kop empty throughout the game, following its closure by the Football Licensing Authorities, with the home fans now situated in the long side terrace and the old away end behind the goal. Dale fans were housed in the main stand. If the authorities closed the kop for safety reasons, then how they allow them to get away with this stand I will never know. It was completely wooden, with no backs to what they deem to be seats, and it was no surprise that many supporters chose to stand instead of sitting on the fire trap.
Steve Parkin had to shuffle the pack again for this game. There were suspensions to Neil Edwards and Dave Bayliss, meaning that young keeper Matthew Gilkes had to come in for his debut at the league leaders. There was a recall for Tony Ford who played wide on the left hand side, replacing Dean Howell who had to make do with a spot on the bench, where he was joined by the returning Tony Ellis and Mark Monington.
Things started brightly for Dale, and it soon became clear that the game was there for the taking. However, the first half remained a very tight affair with few chances for either team. Dale had a couple of decent efforts, with best of them coming from Michael Oliver who headed wide at the back post after Tony Ford put over a great cross from the left hand side.
Most of the play was in the middle of the field, and Gary Jones looked back to his best, alongside Oliver who impressed again.
David Reeves, brother of Dale legend Alan, had the first chance of the game for Chesterfield when he was put clean through. However, it seems he is now living on past memories as faced with a teenage keeper, all he could do was "pass" the ball straight into the hands of Gilkes, who most have been thinking that league football was far easier than what he would have expected.
Just as we would have taken a half time 0-0 draw, £150,000 signing Paul Connor paid of the first installment of his transfer fee, by grabbing Dale a deserved lead. He caused problems all afternoon for the home defence with his size and strength, and he battled his way past home defender Breckin who was content to shepherd the ball back to his keeper. Connor edged his way past Breckin and fired past Collitt to give Dale the advantage.
Of course, we were expecting an onslaught from the home side in the second half, but it never happened. They tried it on, but found the back four in tremendous form, and Gilkes goal went yet again untested.
The game seemed to settle into a lull with victory to Dale looking assured. We may have been under pressure at Hartlepool when defending a lead, but today, there was nothing from Chesterfield to worry Dale in the slightest, and the game looked wrapped up.
As the game went on, Chesterfield were looking more and more desperate. Luke Beckett was brought off the bench as they went three up front, but this still did nothing to suggest that a goal was forthcoming. Ironically, their best chance came via a cross which blew in the wind and hit the top of the crossbar, but we all knew that Gilkes had it covered anyway!
With five minutes left on the clock, the chance of the match came to Dale sub Clive Platt who put clean through. He had all the time in the world to finish off the chance, but with Collitt coming off his line, Platt tried to ensure that he didn't do a "Reeves" and fire it straight at the keeper, but in doing so he put his shot wide of the left hand post to deny Dale a two nil lead. Platt is still lacking in confidence, and subsequent events in the final few minutes will only make things worse for the young striker.
As the home fans streamed out, the home side streamed forward, desperately trying to grab a late equaliser, and they somehow managed to get it. Luke Beckett sent Edwards racing down the wing, who then pulled his cross into the penalty area leaving Howard a virtual tap in with Gilkes at the front post. Howard made no mistake with his shot and scored the vital equaliser with just 60 seconds left on the clock.
Three minutes of injury time were to be added, and they consisted of as much incident as the rest of the half put together, as Chesterfield strove forward in search of glory. Gilkes had to pull off a good save to deny Ebdon, whilst Lee Todd made a superb goal line header to clear a goalbound shot which had most of the ground already celebrating.
Dale had a late chance, but we failed to take advantage of a corner, by trying to keep possession from it.
The last five minutes left a bitter taste in the mouth, but I hope Plattini isn't affected too badly from the miss. A confident Platt would have scored then, so it is to be hoped that the miss doesn't harm his already flagging confidence.
There were so many postives to come out of the match, and it was just a shame that we didn't get the full three points that we fully deserved. This now means that we remain unbeaten against eight of the nine teams above us in the league
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