The fixtures are coming thick and fast and next up is the rescheduled match at home to Ipswich Town at Spotland on Bonfire Night
Date: Tuesday 5th November
Kick-off: 7:45pm
Venue: Crown Oil Arena
________________________________________________________________________
THE DALE:
_________
I’ve no idea how we didn’t get anything from the Bristol Rovers game this past weekend but we didn’t. Dale went down to a 2-1 defeat after a nightmare start to the game despite dominating the majority of the game.
The defeat has raised a few worries among the supporters and got anyone who was even thinking about the "P” word looking back over their shoulders again.
Aaron Wilbraham will be out of the game as he is still serving his suspension for his red card down at Oxford. Sanchez is on the mend now according the BBM’s comments last week so it will be interesting to see how close he is to returning to the side and Ryan McLaughlin may not be back just yet but hopefully isn’t far off now. Magloire and McNulty are apparently on similar time scales with their injuries but still may be a few weeks away. Stephen Dooley may be a while off yet with his injury as well. Ollie Rathbone took a knock during the game on Saturday and he would be a big miss if he’s unavailable.
This game was originally supposed to be played back in September but was postponed because of international call ups which suited me and my girlfriend down to the ground as we were in Lisbon on holiday anyway as featured in the programme on Saturday!
With the games coming thick and fast now, it may be that we see a couple of changes to the side. Matt Done and MJ Williams struggled at the weekend. Could we see Jimmy Ryan back in the side? Rekeil Pyke did well when he came on at the weekend, could he be pushing for a start?
A very difficult game this in what will be the first competitive match between the two sides. Ipswich have been near the top all season and it was only in the past week they were knocked off the top by Wycombe Wanderers. If you offered me a point right now, I’d snap your hand off!
________________________________________________________________________
THE OPPOSITION:
______________
A disastrous season last season saw Ipswich relegated to League Two. A season that saw the Tractor Boys only manage 5 wins all season.
Paul Lambert is the man in charge at Portman Road and has been since October 2018 but despite last season’s woeful showing, they’re making big strides in bouncing straight back at the first attempt.
Ipswich currently lie in 2nd in the league but have two games in hand on Wycombe. They’ve only been beaten twice this season in the league thus far and both of those defeats have come in the past couple of weeks, away at John Coleman’s Accy Stanley and at home to fellow promotion hopefuls Rotherham. They did return to winning ways in their last game, away at Southend United.
Lambert’s men had a rest this past weekend and come into the game fresh as daisy’s as they were due to take on Bury at the weekend but, well, you know!
James Norwood was the big signing through the door at Portman Road in the summer having been the main reason Tranmere Rovers came up from League Two. Norwood was prolific for Tranmere last season with 32 goals in all competitions and has continued his goalscoring form this season with 7 goals in 13 games so far this season.
Norwood has been well supported by Kayden Jackson who joined Ipswich from Accrington at the start of last season. He’s been in great form this season as well with 7 goals in 15 games. It’s safe to say McShane and O’Connell are going to have their hands full!
_________ _______________________________________________________________
FORM BOOK - LAST 5 GAMES:
________________________
Rochdale:
Bristol Rovers (h) - LOSS
Oxford United (a) — LOSS
Milton Keynes (h) — WIN
Bolton Wanderers (a) - WIN
Accrington Stanley (h)- WIN
Ipswich Town:
Southend United (a) — WIN
Rotherham United (h) — LOSS
Accrington Stanley (a) — LOSS
Fleetwood Town (a) — WIN
Tranmere Rovers (h) - WIN
________________________________________________________________________
HEAD TO HEAD:
_____________
We’ve never played Ipswich in a competitive match!