Rochdale recorded a very important victory at home to struggling Mansfield Town by a goal to nil thanks to the returning Lee McEvilly. Match report now online.
There are only a few things guaranteed in this world, death, taxes, Brierls being late for home matches and Rochdale beating Mansfield at home. At no point in the run up to this game did I even contemplate a defeat because we always beat the Stags at Spotland which inevitably, we did by a goal to nil today. It was pre-written. The team selection saw the returning Lee McEvilly start up front with the very much out of form and confidence shot Glenn Murray with leading scorer Adam Le Fondre dropping to the bench. Simon Ramsden also returned after injury and went straight in at right back in place of Nathan D'Laryea and lined up in defence alongside Nathan Stanton, Marcus Holness and Tom Kennedy. Sam Russell retained his place in net despite Spencer being back from injury and the midfield stayed the same with Higginbothan and Rundle on the wings with Jones and Perkins in the centre. On the bench were Spencer, Crooks, Doolan, Prendergast and Le Fondre. Mansfield, to be fair, started the game very well and forced Russell into making a cracking save after just a couple of minutes when Boulding got a shot away. Dale began to get into the game a bit more and Evil was looking fired up and was causing all sorts of problems with his strength and power but we struggled to create any clear cut chances in the first half. There were even shades of the old Evil when he barged one of the Town players off the ball in the same way he did against York that time. Stephen Dawson had a great chance to put Mansfield 1-0 up when he went through one on one with Ramsden slow to react to a through ball but Russell again managed to keep the scores level. Gary Jones saw a deflected shot excellently saved by Muggleton which I was surprised he was even agile enough to get to. The first half was pretty much about two defences playing very well and keeping the opposition at bay. Mansfield were getting in all sorts of last ditch blocks and tackles to keep Dale out. Kallum Higginbotham absolutely smashed a shot towards goal which smashed the defender in the mid-section and the danger was gone. Stanton and Holness were also looking absolutely rock solid and you could see, even in just his second game back, how much we've missed Nathan Stanton. It was goalless at half time with both teams playing fairly well. The second half started poorly for Dale who seemed to take five minutes to realise the second half had even started. After that though, Rochdale were the better team by some distance. Kallum Higginbotham again did well down the right and put in a superb cross which Rundle controlled and then somehow smashed wildly over the bar when it seemed easier to at least hit the target! Mansfield did produce one quality save from Russell when Dawson again got a shot away but Russell did brilliantly to tip it past the post. Glenn Murray's poor form continued. You can see he's trying but it's just not working for him and another below average performance and after he headed wide from six yards from a Gary Jones cross, it was the signal for Le Fondre to get warmed up. Even Gary Jones knew it was a glorious chance as he slapped the ground in frustration. Now then it's clear that Murray is out of form and low on confidence but the vocal criticism of him isn't going to help but you do have to wonder how long Hill wil persevere with him. He also went one on one with Muggleton, looked to go round him but went down in what looked, from my view in the Sandy, like he'd gone down far too easily looking for a penalty and the referee agreed and waved play on. Le Fondre came on for Murray with about 35 minutes of the second half remaining. Adam Rundle had been poor as well despite Halliwell trying to convince me and Kaminskas otherwise and he was also taken off with Rory Prendergast replacing him. Alfie had a good impact on the game as it was he who laid the ball off to McEvilly on the edge of the box and Evil scored his first goal of the season by driving his shot into the far bottom corner putting Dale 1-0 up with 20 minutes left. Higgy put Alfie through one on one with Muggleton but the elderly keeper did well to keep out Dale's leading scorer. With 10 minutes left on the clock, Evil was taken off having been suffering with cramp and was replaced by John Doolan who, shortly after, hit a low drive which cannoned off the post and arrived to Alfie a little quicker than he expected and he hit the ball over The last bit of action saw Higgy hit another shot goalwards which Muggleton saved well. The final whistle went and Dale recorded a very important victory which sees them move up the table to 14th with two games in hand. Winning those games would see us climb up to about 8th looking at the table and with key men back from injury, things are looking better than they did! Player Ratings: Sam Russell - 8 Simon Ramsden - 7 Nathan Stanton - 7 Marcus Holness - 7 Tom Kennedy - 7 Kallum Higginbotham - 7 David Perkins - 6 Gary Jones - 7 Adam Rundle - 6 Glenn Murray - 6 Lee McEvilly - 8 (M.O.M) Adam Le Fondre - 7 Rory Prendergast - 6 John Doolan - 7