| There are certain things that you expect as a Dale fan: early season hopes for sure, top notch pies for another, and usually a fair bit of disappointment along the way. Well you can add a victory at Brunton Park to that list, cos Dale made if four wins on the trot at Brunton Park. It seems strange that this ground was once considered a bogey ground for Dale, but now we seem to win here more often that we win at Spotland!
As it happened, it wasn't the best victory in the world. Dale stole the three points with a Lee Todd free kick minutes into injury time, when the second half had suggested nothing other than a draw between the two sides. The result on this occasion was more important than the style of performance, and it gave Dale the opportunity to get the 6-1 drubbing at Blackburn out of their system, and Dale rose to 4th place in the division as a result.
Steve Parkin opted to make two changes to the team that played against Blackburn on Tuesday. There was a recall for Dave Flitcroft in place of Simon Davies, prompting a midfield reshuffle, and a first ever start for right winger Phil Hadland who came in for Tony Ford MBE giving Dale an extra bit of attacking options. This meant again that Dale would start with Clive Platt upfront on his own, with the suspension of Tony Ellis and the injury of Graham Lancashire.
The game started with Dale looking very positive in their attacks, and it was quite a while before Carlisle had anything which could have been considered a shot. It was fair to say that Dale had the better of the early stages, with the five man midfield taking advantage of the wide Brunton Park pitch.
There were a couple of close calls with Plattini causing the same sort of problems that he has all season. He lacked a little with not having a partner up front but this did allow the Dale midfield to call the early shots.
It was far from a surprise that Dale took the lead around fifteen minutes. The only surprise was the ease that we were allowed to score. A corner came in and Clive Platt was allowed to head home without any real trouble. You would have thought that if anyone they would have made sure they picked him up at corners? Not that we were complaining like!
Dale had a great chance to double their lead halfway through the first half when Michael Oliver latched on to a mistimed pass and went surging into the Carlisle half. With options left and right, he opted to go alone, and was soon tackled before any danger was created.
As the half progressed, the home side grew in confidence and they started to look a little dangerous themselves. Dale weren't helped by the fact that Keith Hill went off midway thru the first half to be replaced by Monington. However, they equalised just before half time from yet another sloppy goal. Carlisle had a corner, and their leading scorer Ian Stevens ghosted in unmarked and untroubled at the back post to head home. Lee Todd was on the back post, but you would have thought that their leading scorer would have been the first person we should have picked up at the set piece?
Half time brought a change for Dale with Simon Davies introduced in place of Michael Oliver to give Dale that bit of width on both wings.
To be honest, with the exception of a disallowed Carlisle goal, much of the second half was fairly forgettable. it was mostly a midfield battle, with Dale struggling up front with Plattini on his own. How Ellis was missed!
There was plenty of the usual Atkins stuff with lots of fouls and pushes going unnoticed by the referee whose performance vastly deteriorated as the game went on. Dale had a decent shout for a penalty when Platt raced through but was "obstructed" in the area. You would have thought after Wednesday we were owed a penalty or two (or three!). However, a corner was all that was given.
However, with time running out, Dale were somehow awarded a free kick at the 437th time of trying. Indeed, there were those around us who questioned the legitimacy of the decision, with a slight feeling that Ware (?) had "done a Jansen". Not to worry though. The ref wouldn't have given it if it wasn't a free kick would he?
Anyway, Lee Todd has received criticism in some quarters for his free kicks this season (from me???? NEVER!!!!!!), with accusations that they always go into the wall. So up he popped in the 94th minute curling the ball past the wall into the back of the net with the Carlisle keeper Weaver absolutely nowhere near it, with what was virtually the last kick of the game.
The final whistle brought joyous scenes in the away end as the home ends emptied (including that bunch at the front who spent the entire time watching the Dale fans instead of the game!) in droves.
Manager Steve Parkin was as delighted as the fans at the end saying to press afterwards: "It was a great time to score the winner and it was a great goal. It was a hard game. Carlisle are very organised but we dominated the first half before we gave away a sucker goal when we failed to pick up Ian Stevens at the back post."
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