| Last season, Gary Jones grabbed a late point for Dale at Boothferry Park, when he had shot which took a huge deflection before landing in the back of the net. Today, he won the game with a similarly deflected shot, which gave the new romantic Hull keeper Musslewhite no chance whatsoever.
Dale just about deserved it over the ninety minutes in what was a controlled performance, which gave nothing away to the visitors at all. They were restricted to long range efforts which never troubled Edwards at all. The nearest Hull came to scoring was when human tank Gary Brabin had a low drive from a free kick halfway through the second half. That seemed to be their only shot on target during the game.
The game took place at a freezing Spotland pitch. The recent rugby game involving the squatters and the biffos had obviously took its toll, and there was large amount of sand at the Sandy Lane end of the pitch to flatten it out! There was also evidence of the recent snowfall in places.
The expected two thousand strong invasion of Hull supporters failed to materialise. Obviously, boasts of a Rotherhamesque away following turned out to be the usual "big club" delusions of grandeur that Blackpool also suffer from with only 8-900 coming from the non-scouse end of the M62.
Dale boss Steve Parkin had rung the changes since Saturday's point at Orient. Simon Davies was rewarded for his fine display at the weekend with another start. Dave Flitcroft was handed a recall to the starting line up, with Oliver and Ware reduced to the bench, and Tony Ellis taking his familiar place up front alongside Plattini.
The first half saw Dale pretty much in total control. Similar to how we played in the first half at Orient on Saturday, Dale did not produce bucket loads of chances, but controlled the play and were full value for their lead at half time. The nearest to a chance Hull had was a forty yard (upwards!) long range effort, when it was debatable whether it was a shot or not.
It wasn't easy playing passing football on the pitch, and it proved even harder for the Hull keeper Musselwhite to kick the ball at all. Whether he was wearing a pair of novelty football boots that he got in a Xmas cracker or something similar remains to be seen, but he just could not kick the ball straight at all, providing much hilarity to the home fans. Every time he kicked it, it reached about thirty yards up in the air, and then started curling towards the dugouts, often going straight out for a Dale throw in, making it difficult for Hull to launch any sort of meaningful attacks.
At the other end, Dale had one or two half chances to take the lead, but nothing really to trouble Musslewhite. Tony Ellis got the ball in the back of the net early in the half, but it was ruled out before anyone had the chance to get excited about it. Plattini was working as hard as ever, but they were up against a pretty decent Hull defence, with Ian Goodison sticking out by a long way. He looked a classy defender, with pace and an ability to pass the ball with it. Too good for Division Three on this performance.
The breakthrough came eighteen minutes into the first half following some persistence by Gary Jones. He forced his way into the penalty box, before letting fly as he approached the six yard box from the left hand side of the pitch. His shot took a wicked deflection off the body of a Hull defender who threw himself in the way of the shot. The ball then went straight over the diving Musslewhite before landing in the back of the net!
Not long after, Dale nearly made it two, with what could have been one of the goals of the season. It started when Lee Todd intercepted a pass on the left hand side, and produced some neat quality passing with Simon Davies, and the ball was whipped in to the edge of the six yard box, where Tony Ellis had timed his run perfectly, just delaying his movement. He tried to angle the ball into the corner, in what was far from an easy chance, but he saw his shot just go inches past Musslewhite's left hand post.
Half time came, with the temperatures starting to drop to Boundary Park style proportions, but at least it wasn't raining! Hull took off former Premiership player Clint Marcelle at half time. When he played against us for Barnsley three or four years ago, he looked a very good player indeed. Today, he just wasn't bothered and it showed!
The second half saw Hull step up a gear, and seemed to ride their luck at times with the referee, who allowed one or two challenges to slip by unnoticed by the Hull side, but it never looked in any danger of boiling over. Hull found that by using their physical strength, it helped then get a better grip of the midfield. But with Gary Brabin in your side, it's your best option. (as long as he doesn't decapitate anyone!)
Although their improvement, it failed to achieve anything, as chances were restricted to efforts from outside the box, which usually went wide of the post, and it wasn't till about seventy minutes in the match, before Edwards got his gloves dirty.
Dale failed to trouble Hull much in the second half, and with veteran midfielder Tony Ford MBE visibly tiring, it helped Hull keep Dale out of their half. Fortunately for Dale, that whenever Hull launched any raids on the goal, they found the Dale defence in superb form, keeping them at bay through either tackles, great movement, and an offside trap that Brown and Wood could not cope with at all.
The nearest that Hull got to troubling Edwards was the aforementioned free kick which Brabin thumped from around twenty five yards. It went straight along the floor, and looked to be going wide at first, but Edwards made sure by mopping up, with perhaps the biggest danger being the threat of it hitting a bobble on the pitch.
As time ran out, Hull looked no more likely to score, and Dale's one goal lead was never threatened. After an extremely long two minutes of injury time, the referee blew to give Dale a second consecutive home win.
There were several great performances by the Dale players, with Todd sticking out for me. He was superb, both in defence and when pushing up to support. Gary Jones was his usual consistent self, and he appeared to appreciate having Dave Flitcroft back alongside him. Clive Platt worked very hard up front, without getting any personal rewards for it.
This win could not have been timed better as Dale now go towards the New Year fixtures, having taken four points from what was two difficult matches. There is now a big points gap being created between Dale and the teams around them. Fifth placed Dale are now five points ahead of Cheltenham who are in sixth, but perhaps more importantly, Dale are eight points clear of Scunny who occupy eighth place, the last non play off position.
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.