Dale drew 0-0 with fellow Play Off finalists Stockport County in a game which did very little to warm the hearts of those in attendance, whilst we were forced to endure 90 minutes of the County fans throwing that Wembley result in our faces.

The first talking point of tonight was the attendance. Forget who played where and possible formations, tonight was a very sparse Spotland with the given attendance of 1020 raising many an eyebrow across the ground as supporters felt there were far fewer than that figure attending the game.

Was that down to the general feeling about the club, where the post-Wembley disappointments have hit harder than we realised, or did the support just think that £12 was an unrealistic price to charge for a friendly against a side  that had about as much glamour as a night out with Pauline Quirke.

Either way, the 1020 crowd, or whatever the true figure was, was a massive disappointment and given that we had enough Police to patrol a G8 conference, we probably didn't cover the costs of the game. Someone, somewhere is getting his sums wrong, and it's costing us money.

As for the game, well there's not a right lot to say. We set out with a team that we'd all pretty much expect to see start at Grimsby on the opening day of the season, with perhaps Toner starting tonight rather than the more likely Keltie.

We started well enough, and put County under pressure without really coming up with anything for the first 15 minutes or so, but soon the visitors came into the game, and we were probably lucky to go into half time at 0-0. They had far more chances, and it was only thanks to a Kallum Higginbotham goal line clearance that it stayed as it was.

We improved in the second half, but despite some decent passing in the approach to the box, we couldn't convert possession into chances, with our best effort not coming until the 90th minute.

But its worth remembering that tonight's game was not about the result or revenge for Wembley. It was about the build up to the season, and it was certainly a decent work out in which we improved our fitness and showed we could adapt to the opposition.

Dale: Russell, Ramsden, Kennedy (Evans), Stanton, McArdle, Higginbotham (Buckley), Jones, Toner (Keltie), Rundle, Shaw (Le Fondre), Dagnall.

Photo: Action Images

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