| Excuses? You want excuses? Okay then. Well you can blame the pitch was very bobbly tonight making it very difficult for the players. You can blame the fact that Dale lost two key players in Clive Platt and Tony Ford to injury within the first twenty minutes. You can blame the fact that the referee refused to give a blatant penalty in the last couple of minutes. You can blame the fact that despite almost blanket possession in the second half, we just couldn't take our chances. But when it came down to it, the result was on the cards from the opening five minutes in the game.
You see despite all our possession of the ball, the visiting team had the best chances and could have scored well before they actually did. They had chances within the opening few minutes, and had two or three other chances on the break which could have wrapped things up.
Now you can put it down to a number of reasons, but ultimately we have lost to a team who had scored just one goal in their previous nine matches, and that was from a player who is no longer with them anymore. York are not a good team. They weren't even a team who were battling for their lives. They stuck numbers behind the ball and attacked on the break, which has been successful tactics for many a struggling side at Spotland in the last season and a half.
Rant over.
Despite the pre-match drizzle, the game managed to go ahead and the recent work with the "right kind of sand" was visible on the Motorama side of the ground. The pitch was in no ways unplayable, and despite a few bobbles here and there, it didn't look in too bad a condition given all the recent postponements and rugby games which have taken place on it.
The earliest disappointment was the size of the crowd with only 2,800 in attendance. It wasn't helped by a travelling army of 150 or so from York who didn't really contribute to it, but we have had regularly over three thousand Dale fans at home games this season, and given that it was the first home match since the televised game with Orient, you would have expected a lot more.
Dale manager Steve Parkin made one change to Saturday's side with Phil Hadland returning to face the team he almost joined in the Summer, with Michael Oliver returning to the bench.
However it was clear within the opening few minutes that any hopes of a walkover were misplaced, as Dale just didn't seem with it at all. They seemed unable to put anything together that was constructive, and failed to put York under any pressure. York didn't look any better with striker Lee Nogan looking like he had never heard of the offside rule. They had a great chance earlier on, which saw them pass Edwards who had rushed out, but fortunately Nogan was offside.
And this was how the first half continued with Dale failing to even put a shot on target till the 30th minute when Ellis shot straight at keeper Fettis. Clive Platt was forced off with what appeared to be a calf injury after only fifteen minutes. Kevin Kyle was brought on in his place. Five minutes later Tony Ford was forced to hobble off, with Michael Oliver making a quick return in his place. This brought a tactical switch round with Phil Hadland returning to his natural right hand side. However, the changes in personnel and tactics did little to change things round, and Dale continued to be frustrated by the heavily defensive York side.
After the fourth official produced two minutes of stoppage time from somewhere, we were put out our misery by the half time whistle to complete what was our worst half of the season by a long way. A bad day at the office had transformed itself into a bad week.
The second half was much, much better, with Dale at least offering something in attack. They attacked with controlled passing football, which was very patient. They played some very good stuff, but found it very difficult once inside the York box. At times, Dale keeper Neil Edwards was just a spectator, as 90% of the play took place in the York box.
Dale had chances to grab a goal, with Tony Ellis coming closest when he saw his header go narrowily wide, with keeper Fettis well beaten. Kyle had a good opportunity when put clean through but his shot went well wide with Gary Jones in acres of space in the middle.
There were a couple of warnings for Dale. The first was when veteran York defender Wayne Hall volleyed home but his effort went over bar, and Edwards was forced to tip the ball over the cross bar from a corner, but with Dale on the attack so much, it was always going to be the case that York could get opportunities on the break.
And indeed they did. A mistake by Keith Hill allowed in York midfielder Emmerson (no relation to the mop headed ex Middlesboro player), who chased the ball down with Edwards running out. The ball fell for Emmerson who had all the time in the world to poke the ball home to spark a mini pitch invasion from the small band of York supporters.
The last fifteen minutes saw Mark Monington brought on for Keith Hill and pushed up front as a makeshift striker, but despite more possession, we only had half chances.
Within seconds to spare, Dale should have been awarded a penalty when Mark Monington was pushed in the back as he was about to head the ball goalwards. Don't know whether the referee saw it, because it was so blatant, he would have had to have given it.
The last few minutes saw York panic as they tried to hold onto their lead, and that brought out the very worst in their tactics. Tony Ellis was booked after bumping into one of their players who actually deliberately through himself over the wall in front of the Willbutts Lane stand in an attempt to get Ellis booked. It worked. However, it was so obviously clear to all around that it was cheating.
But in the end, it was perhaps inevitable that we would fail to score against the worst team in the league as their league position indicated, and victory was theirs. With the drop in crowd for tonight's game, the slump in form, and injuries to Platt and Ford, it seems essential that Steve Parkin now demands the cheque book from the directors, and makes a couple of signings which will help return the momentum to our season. Our threadbare squad is being tested to its limits and it cannot handle it as it currently stands.
The season is a long, long way from over, and with games in hand, we can secure our play off place, and perhaps given the troubles at Chesterfield, automatic promotion may not be beyond our reaches, but not on this sort of display. Any chance we can switch Saturday's game to Gay Meadow?
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