| For much of this match, it looked to be a case of "after the Lord Mayor's show", as everything looked to be an anti-climax after Tuesday night's heroics against Blackburn. But by the end, the game had everything that you could have asked for, and more importantly, it finished with three points for Dale.
The game began on an overcast afternoon, in front of a very disappointing crowd of just over 2,500. Given that Scunthorpe brought around 600, that means less than 2000 Dale fans in attendance. Have the public of Rochdale written the season off already or are they saving the cash for the trip to Halifax? Either way, the crowd was very disappointing, and it looked very sparse indeed after the full house on Tuesday.
Dale started the match with just the one change from Tuesday's draw with Blackburn, with Gary Jones coming in to replace Paul Ware, who had to make do with a spot on the bench. However, it was the ex Macclesfield midfielder who would be the one stealing the headlines in the end.
Visitors Scunthorpe came into the game on a high after back to back wins against Macclesfield and Kidderminster, and this was certainly evident. Their supporters were very vocal early on, and the team looked very confident on the pitch. They looked a decent hardworking side, with plenty of movement in midfield which at times was too much for Dale. They looked very lively up front. Forward Torpey was fairly anonymous, but his strike partner Sheldon caused a few problems with Dale with his running, but Dale were relieved to see the offside flag go up on several occasions.
Dale had a few decent chances in the first half. Platty came closest to scoring for Dale, when he narrowily headed wide of the post early in the match. Other than that, it was fairly even stuff, with Scunthorpe perhaps having the edge over us.
However, Dale soon took the lead, and it came courtesy of Tony Ellis who bagged the 200th goal of his long successful career. And it came in typical Tony Ellis style. At the WMG end of the ground, he turned in the box with the ball at his feet, leaving his marker for dead, and fired home past the hapless Scunthorpe keeper Evans.
This proved to be the signal for the visitors to step up a gear, and it wasn't too long before they were back on level terms. A clever ball over the top of the Dale defence, saw striker Sheldon break through the Dale offside trap, and with time and space, he cleverly knocked the ball past Edwards to put Scunthorpe deservedly back on level terms.
Half time came and went, but within seconds of the restart, Dale found themselves 2:1 down. Scunny started the second half very strongly, and they were awarded a penalty following a scramble in the Dale penalty box, when the Dale defenders were throwing themselves at the ball. The ref ruled that one of the Dale challenges was unfair, and pointed to the spot. Up popped former West Ham player Lee Hodges who coolly poked the ball to the left hand side of Edwards, sending him the wrong way.
We saw plenty of times last season, that the new improved Steve Parkin Rochdale side were capable of coming from behind to win matches. Now at this point in the game, it looked far from likely. However, once again they managed it. Scunny's second goal proved to be the turning point in the match, as it made Dale step up a gear and come at Scunthorpe, and to be honest, the visitors were never in the game after taking the lead.
Dale got back into the game courtesy of a stunning finish by Platt. He received the ball on the edge of the box, with plenty of space around him, before fooling the keeper by having a first time shot, which went straight into the top left hand corner. This was just rewards after an excellent start to the season by the young striker.
You would have thought that this goal would have sparked Scunthorpe into action, but it only gave confidence to Dale. The real difference between the two sides, came after recent signing from Macclesfield Paul Ware was brought on to replace Dave Flitcroft in midfield. This wasn't the right sort of game for Flitcroft, with a lot of quick movement in the midfield.
The introduction of Ware proved to be the real breakthrough, as within two minutes of coming on for Dale, he grabbed the winner. Full back Lee Todd put over a peach of a cross into the centre which Ware directed in the same part of the net that Platt had scored in previously.
After that, Scunthorpe seemed to be all out of ideas, and looked to be a vastly different team from the first half, that had been so impressive. Dale controlled the game for the rest of the match, and looked to be the more likely of the teams to score again. Indeed, Paul Ware almost doubled his own total, when he headed over at the back post.
The final whistle came, and Dale had managed to secure their first victory of the season. It was deserved for the way that they kept plugging away, and wore the opposition down. Scunthorpe may well have been very impressive in the first half, but Dale reacted to this, and battled back, playing for the full ninety minutes.
Dale man of the match: Tony Ellis. Got his 200th goal of his career, and did caused an awful lot of problems in the second half. Again, he saw a couple of efforts whistle past the post, but he used his teammates a lot more today, as he was well supported. If he can keep playing like this, how long till his 300th career goal?
On this sort of performance, he will be very sorely missed when he serves his forthcoming three match ban which starts next week. A shame, cos it looks like at long last, him and Platty are starting to hit it off as striker partners.
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