| At times during this game, there looked to be far more than just one goal between the two sides. As has been the case in the last few matches, Dale totally bossed the first half, and restricted the home side to just one very wayward shot. Dale led deservedly at the break, but started the second half very shakily, and allowed Darlo to equalise. However, Wayne Evans appeared out of nowhere and scored a winner to take Dale up into fourth place in the division.
As the fans trooped out after the final whistle, the chants were all about promotion. Now as we know, the Dale supporters are usually very reticent about singing about promotion. Blimey, some supporters won't even mention the 'P' word, but on this evidence, who would back against us? This was a very controlled performance by Dale, which although we never had Darlington under the cosh for long periods, restricted them to a small number of efforts, and dominated the possession.
There was a large number of individual performance by the Dale players, but the star man was the player who grabbed the winner: Wayne Evans. He won almost everything in the air and in the floor, and finished off his fine performance with a well worked, albeit slightly fortuitous due to a deflection, goal.
The game took place up at Feethams with fears of a downpour misplaced. There were sunny intervals for most of the afternoon, until the moonlight took over midway through the second half. Despite a couple of pre-match pitch inspections, the notorious Darlington pitch looked fairly healthy and in a fine state.
Dale went into the match backed by almost 600 Dale fans, which is the most we have took up there since the famous FA Cup replay in 1995. The paddock was packed and was a sell out, added with a few who couldn't put up with the poor view in the stand behind. There was also plenty in the seats behind. The fans did their best to get behind the team throughout, in stark contrast to the Darlington supporters who were one of the quietest sets of home supporters we have seen this season. The old tin shed behind the goal has usually been pretty vocal in years gone by, but today they were very quiet. The only vocal Darlo support came from the impressive main stand across from the Dale fans.
The first half was as comfortable a half as you will see all season. Dale were in total control from start to finish, and Darlington looked a long way from the team that they reached the play offs last season. Yes, they have lost key players, and missing one or two injury problems but it looked like the heart has been ripped out of the team.
Dale had Darlington in their pocket for most of the first half, and Darlington could do little in response. Dale's midfield were well on top and looked a class above the opposition. Dale almost took the lead within the opening five minutes, when they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. Lee Todd took it, and it picked up a deflection along the way, and it had Darlo keeper Collett struggling to tip it wide for a corner.
However, we didn't have to wait too much longer for Dale to take the lead, and it was Tony Ellis who scored it. As with most of the action at Darlington, it is never too clear to see any of the action down each ends of the touchline due to the restricted views, but it appeared that the referee had waved play on following some incident on the left hand side. The ball was crossed to Tony Ellis who stood central in the penalty area, and he fired a still ball into the top corner to give Dale a deserved lead.
The rest of the first half saw Dale keep possession and frustrate the home side. Dale had a goal disallowed when Gary Jones was adjudged to have been offside, but he still provided a fantastic finish to lob Collett. Darlington also had a goal disallowed, when they realised that their only chance of threatening the Dale goal was to jump into players when going for headers, and their goal was disallowed after Edwards was assaulted in the penalty area.
With five minutes to go in the first half, Darlington had their one and only effort of the first half, when a shot was put well wide. This was a sign of Dale's dominance over the home side, and things looked very comfortable.
The second half saw a major change round, and for the first ten minutes Dale looked far from the team who were had been so comfortable in the first half. As Darlington received their half time rollocking from manager Bennett, they stepped up a gear, and it provided a little bit of panic in the penalty area. Things weren't helped by a referee who had previously had an excellent game, decided to have a nightmare twenty minute period at the beginning of the second half.
The first panic moment came just 2 or 3 minutes into the second half, when a ball came over the top, and for a rare time, Darlington had got through the Dale offside trap. Glenn Naylor and Neil Edwards contested a bouncing ball, and Edwards was the first to get there, but soon found himself caught out. Naylor went over Edwards and up went the hands for a penalty. It was a very tough one to call, and you can bet if it was at the other end, it would have been a definite penalty, but Naylor went over Edwards who made no attempt to bring Naylor down. Of course the ref made the right decision in waving play on! ;-)
However, within a few minutes, Darlington were level again, and it had been coming within the previous few minutes. The Dale defence failed to cope with a Darlo attack, and the ball eventually spilled to substitute Hodgson who had the easy task of burying the ball into the back of the net.
Fortunately, Darlington failed to build on their goal, and the game threatened to get out of control at one point. Former Dale defender started his audition for the new Escape to Victory film, with some terrible acting. He tried claiming that he had been hit in the face by Plattini and then by Tony Ford by throwing himself to the floor clutching his face in agony, when challenged. The arms were absolutely nowhere Reed's face and it was appalling to see.
Things started improving, and before too long, Dale were back in control. Phil Hadland was brought on in place of Simon Davies, and he made the difference between the two teams. Dale immediately looked more threatening in attack, and although the winner came from the other side, his inclusion in the side made the necessary difference.
The winning goal came from a Tony Ford move down the right. Given the restricted view in the away end, it looked like he had just kicked the ball miles away from play. However, out of the blue, Wayne Evans just appeared and it turned out that Ford's ball was in fact a perfect pass. Evans received the ball in plenty of space, cut in and fired over a cross / shot. Darlo keeper Collett attempted to cut out the cross and the ball came off him and ended up in the back of the net. Now, debate will rage over whether it should be recorded as a Evans goal or as an own goal, and also whether it was a shot or a cross. Given Evans' scoring record over the past few years, I think we have to credit the goal to Evans's shot!
After that, Dale looked very comfortable, and apart from a few high balls into the box, Dale's lead never looked in doubt, and Dale held on to record their seventh away win of the season so far. The doubters are starting to get very quiet indeed, and the way things are going, this really could be the season we have waited so long for!
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.