| What a game! What can you say. This was a case of two excellent teams who threw everything at each other late on in this match in a bid to try and snatch the victory. Defeat would have been extremely harsh on either team, as they had both had enough chances to win the game, and believe me, both sides would have beaten any other team in the division this evening.
Visitors Chesterfield were the best team that Dale have played this way by a long, long way. Their attacking play was superb, and caused all sorts of problems for the Dale defence, especially early on, whilst their defence were no mugs either and did well in their battle against Plattini and Ellis. In my opinion, they were vastly superior to any of last season's promoted teams.
But Dale matched them. You could say more than matched them, as we had a lot of chances late in the game, having the league leaders on the back foot at times. As Dale piled on the pressure late on, Dale came close to nicking a winner, but in doing so left gaps at the back where the visitors almost did the same.
It was real end to end stuff, and for once when the big crowd turned up, with over five thousand in attendance, Dale did not disappoint. This was the biggest crowd at Spotland since the Sky game with Hull City a couple of seasons ago (which was boosted by a load of free tickets), with somewhere in the region of 1,300 making the journey over the Pennines from Derbyshire to sit in the even more impressive looking Willbutts Lane Stand, but very few of the large crowd left early. The WMG was full, the main stand had more people in than it did in most matches, and the Sandy was just as full as it was for the Blackburn cup game.
Dale went into the game, with just the one change with Phil Hadland coming into the starting eleven in place of Paul Ware. This brought with it a tactical change with Dale reverting to a 4-4-2. Chesterfield came into the game without striker Luke Beckett. Despite that, they still fielded a team that was full of quality, and it was very clear to see, especially early on.
Chesterfield for their credit tried to play football on the floor, with some neat passing. As acknowledged by Parkin in the build up to this one, they can be very direct when they want to be, but you do need that mix if you are to be successful. Looking at the league table, it is working.
And it was the visitors who started off much the brighter, and they caused one or two problems for Dale early on. Mark Monington started off marking David Reeves, but despite Mono's aerial ability, Reeves seemed to get the better of him several times in these stages. It's not often you see Mono getting beaten in the air, and it almost cost Dale a goal early on. Reeves had a header from the edge of the six yard box within the opening ten minutes, but fortunately for Dale, it went straight at Edwards.
This pattern continued for the first fifteen minutes or so, with Dale unable to really make any advance on the Chesterfield goal. Dale were penned back in their own half, with Chesterfield overrunning the Dale midfield. Platt and Ellis were powerless to do anything about it. There was a switch around in defence, with Mono and Bayliss changing positions, so that Bayliss had the pleasure of taking care of Reeves.
However, all of a sudden, Phil Hadland, who had not been in the game much, got hold of the ball on around the half way line, and went on a run. And he went on and on and on, and he just kept on going, moving past the defenders with ease. He broke into the box, and was felled by Chesterfield defender Steve Tutill, who just could nothing about Hadland's movement. The referee had no hesitation or choice in pointing to the spot, and up stepped Gary Jones. With Parkin claiming at the weekend that when Jones stepped up to take a penalty "the only place that it was going to end up was the back of the net.", the writing seemed on the wall for Jones to miss, but with Pollitt offering Jones loads of room to Jones' left, Jones put it to the other side to put Dale in front against the run of play.
This goal seemed to spark Dale into action, and from then on, Dale were the better side. Obviously, the cushion of the one goal lead helped, but all of a sudden, Phil Hadland was getting more room and was causing all sorts of problems for the Chesterfield defence. Unfortunately for Dale, he wasn't supported as well as he could have been, otherwise Dale could have increased their lead.
Dale actually almost did not long after, when they were awarded a free kick on the left hand side. Rather than a direct shot, the ball was passed to Gary Jones who was stood centrally, just outside the penalty box. With the pitch wet with the continuous drizzle, the ball over ran, but he got to it eventually, and put in a low drive which Pollitt struggled to really get hold of.
And just when everything was looking good, disaster struck, and just like last season, it came via an own goal. What is it when we play Chesterfield that we seem to score own goals? First Hill and Bayliss last season, and now Monington tonight. Surely three in three games indicates some misdoing in a past life or something. With Chesterfield starting to come back into the game, Mark Monington attempted a clearance inside his own penalty box, only to see it head goalwards. With Wayne Evans scrambling backwards in an attempt to clear it off the line (tho' fortunately he didn't grab hold of the net in attempting this!), it was all in vain, as Evans ran out of room, and the ball dropped into the back of the net to put the Spireites back on level terms.
If that wasn't bad enough, within five minutes the visitors were winning. And who else could it be but David Reeves (except for maybe yet another Dale defender!!!!). Neil Edwards did well by pulling off a superb save pushing it wide, Reeves did what he is best at (other than being offside), and followed through for the rebound, and fired home with the ball going in off Neil Edwards on the way in.
After this, half time couldn't come quick enough for Dale, as Chesterfield were in the mood to increase their lead, and with heads dropping at the back, it wasn't inconceivable that Dale could go into the break 3-1 down. But it came and went, with two Dale fans managing to succeed in the half time Observer challenge, with some kid walking off with the £400 only for some bloke to repeat the feat when the prize had been reduced back to £50. If that doesn't sum up watching Dale then nothing does!
Second halves have recently seen the worst of Dale, but not tonight. The players came out fired up and were determined to get back into the match. It was still a struggle, and chances for Dale were few and far between, but Dale kept plugging away and got the visitors on the back foot more and more.
As the game went on, the challenges were getting worse and worse. There was nothing malicious going on, it was just determination from both side in their attempts to win the game, and the referee Graham Frankland understood this and refereed the game accordingly. (don't know how Flitcroft managed to stay out the book for so long though). Tony Ellis was booked for a late tackle, which former Claret Blatherwick responded by using his head. The ref could have sent both players off but given the game, opted for a yellow card a piece.
The equaliser came when Dale were awarded a free kick on the right hand side. Tony Ford MBE, who once again defied his age all night long, put in a peach of a cross in which Mark Monington broke through the dismal offside trap, and headed home his fourth goal of the season putting way past the reach of Mike Pollitt. Once he got the own goal, you could have put money on Mono grabbing a goal, even tho up to this point, Dale hadn't had a great deal of clear chances.
Following this goal, it was just end to end stuff from both teams. Chesterfield had their striker Howard hit the bar from three yards out, and another chance where Edwards managed to keep the ball from going over the line (tho' he didn't look entirely convincing!). Dale threw everything forward, and with Ford MBE causing mayhem on the left with some wonderfully timed crosses. Todd came close to sealing it, and a Chesterfield defender almost scored an own goal with seconds running out (and remember they owe us three now!!!!!).
In the end, it was not to be. Both sides had enough chances to seal it. Both sets of fans no doubt felt that they deserved to win, but it was a real pleasure seeing such a great game of football between to excellent footballing teams. If Chesterfield were to win this league (and on this evidence they will), there won't be many Dale fans unhappy about finishing in second spot behind them.
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