| And that's all it came down to. There may be a difference in the respective divisions, but all that could separate the two sides, was a controversially disallowed Clive Platt goal, and a clearance from Wayne Evans which ricocheted into the back of the net off Cambridge substitute Hansen.
It was hard to leave the ground feeling anything except resentment towards the officials who played such a major part in the victory. I know its so very easy to blame the officials these days for defeats, but it was difficult to do anything else after Dale crashed out of the FA Cup in these circumstances. Our previous visit to the Abbey Stadium saw us denied victory through a goal which even the scorer admitted was offside. This time was much, much worse.
As the five hundred Dale supporters who made the journey down the A1 trooped out of the ground, there was a real feeling of disbelief as for the second week in succession, we had lost a game that we didn't deserve to. There were mutterings of "Robbed" and "Cheated" as we left the rain sodden terrace behind the goal. In all honesty, it was hard to feel anything else.
Dale went into the game with a revamp in the starting eleven. There was a recall for Phil Hadland who took his place wide on the left in a five man midfield, with Plattini playing up front on his own, with Tony Ellis demoted to the substitutes bench, the same 4-5-1 formation that saw success earlier in the season.
The pitch was wet due to the ongoing light rain which made control of the football difficult. The ball moved quickly on an otherwise fine looking surface. However, it was soon clear that Dale were going to have a major battle on their hands, as the Cambridge players started very brightly.
Unfortunately, Michael Oliver took the battle a little too literally, and within the opening minute, he had floored former Dale player Alex Russell with a stray elbow. I doubt it was intentional but the referee saw fit to issue a yellow card to the former Darlington man. At least it showed Russell that he was going to get the same reception off the Dale players as he did off the Dale fans who applauded his name when the teams were read out at the start of the match.
The U's started very well and looked very much at home on the wet pitch, knocking the ball about well, making the Dale players work very hard to keep up with them. And within the opening few minutes of the game, Dale were a goal down. A ball was crossed over from the right hand side by former Bolton defender Steve McAnespie. Wayne Evans attempted a clearance but saw the ball go straight to Cambridge striker Jonas Axeldal who looped his header into the top corner with Edwards helpless.
If this was to be the start of an onslaught by the home side, then it didn't happen. Dale continued to work hard and keep to the task in hand, and they soon had the home team on the back foot. It was clear that most of the home side's play went through Russell, but he was allowed very little time on the ball in a packed out midfield, where the Dale lads were clearly on top. With Platt up front on his own though, there wasn't much scope to translate the possession into attacks, as the big striker was well marked.
However, Plattini did manage to avoid his marker for one moment, and he made it count when he scored his eighth goal of the season on the half hour mark. Paul Ware put a high cross over to the edge of the box, which was headed down by Mickey Oliver into the path of Clive Platt who had got beyond the defensive line and he drilled the ball past former Newcastle and Sunderland keeper Lionel Perez to deservedly equalise for Dale.
If the opening goal had put the home side on the back foot through complacency, then nothing changed after, as the goal if anything gave more confidence to ourselves. United came back with a couple of lame attacks, but nothing to worry any of the travelling support, including one long range drive from Russell which trickled out for a throw in.
Half time brought an announcement over the Tannoy for a Class One referee, as the first half referee had been unable to continue. Well the resident referee and referee baitor amongst the Dale support bottled the job of taking over as the fourth official, allowing one of the U's fans to do the job. Any hopes that we might see an improvement in the quality of the officiating with the change of referee was soon dashed. Promoted linesman Mr. Artis quickly proved that he was not up to the job and that he couldn't be any more out of his depth if he was in the Titanic.
Dale almost took the lead within the opening minutes of the second half, following a scramble in front of the travelling support. Phil Hadland had the first effort, before Plattini got on the end of it, but Perez managed just to stop the ball crossing the line.
Dale had the balance of power for much of the second half, but a draw always looked to be on the cards. In fact, the replay was not so much being pencilled in, but being written in permanent marker pen. Out of favour winger Simon Davies was brought on as Dale chased the victory. Davies came on and had by far his best game for the club, causing all sorts of panic down the left. He almost set up a goal, when he caused menace down the left, beating two men before crossing the ball back from the dead ball line to Gary Jones who put the ball into orbit.
The referee started to really show his ineptitude when Cambridge were awarded a free kick on the right hand side. Up till this point, he had only offended the Dale supporters, with a succession of strange and incorrect decisions. Now it was time to make a name for himself. Feeling that the Dale wall had not retreated a full ten yards, one of the United players decided to take things into his own hands, and he started to push the wall back himself. Of course, raising your hands in such a way is considered legal by inept linesmen turned referees as the ref then decided to book two of our players (Ware and Hadland) for being pushed back. Now at this point, the Cambridge players asked the referee, who at no point asked our players to retreat, if they could bring the ball forward ten yards.
As one linesman was stealing the show in the middle of the pitch, the other obviously wanted his own share of the limelight. And he certainly did that. Tony Ford put in a super cross which was met in the middle by Plattini who headed the ball into the back of the net to send Dale into round two. The ref gave the goal, Plattini celebrated, and the players started retreating to the centre circle when the ref decided to look at the linesman who had his flag up from before Platt headed the ball, and without going over to ask which players the linesman felt was in an offside position, the ref disallowed the goal that he had previously given. There was no way that Clive Platt was in an offside position, as he beat his man to win the header.
If that wasn't bad enough, within seconds it was call the Samaritans time. Wayne Evans had the ball at his feet, after dealing with yet another ball just lumped forward without causing any danger. He turned to clear the ball back up field, but saw his clearance rebound off sub Hansen who was attempting a tackle into the back of the net to send Cambridge through into round two in fortuitous to say the least circumstances.
There was still time for Dale to mount another comeback bid, and Ellis and Lancashire were thrown on as Dale went three up front. Platty almost scored what should have been his hat trick, when he hit a low drive goalwards. Perez saved the ball well, but came perilously close to taking the ball over the line, but he had the comfort of veteran striker John Taylor behind him to keep him from falling over the line.
Tony Ford came close to being sent off when he put in a late challenge on a Cambridge defender as he cleared the ball. It sounded vicious, as the challenge could be heard from the away terrace but as we know that's not in Ford's nature, and perhaps his honours from the Queen saved him a very rare red card.
Despite later pressure in the three minutes of injury time, which took the game past 5pm before the referee called time on the game. Steve Parkin came onto the field to congratulate his players on their effort throughout the match, and to inform the referee that he disagreed with one or two of the decisions that he had made.
All in all, it was very easy to come away from this game feeling very disappointed. But on the plus side, we had outplayed a midtable second division team. We were never going to win the FA Cup, and with a final in Wales instead of Wembley, it's debatable whether we wanted to anyway. **CLICHÉ ALERT**At least we can concentrate on the league now**CLICHÉ ALERT**, which must be a first priority. However, it just a sickening feeling when you crash out of the FA Cup in such circumstances
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.