Dale travelled down to South Wales in hope of victory, but came away with the expected result.
Dale took the lead after about 15mins when Robbie Painter had a free header at the front post after a cross from Stuart (i think). This goal brought a rather muted response from the Dale fans and players. Both reacted as if it had been disallowed, which seemed rather strange. I think it was just an expectation of what was to come. Up to this point Dale seemed pretty comfortable and remained so throughout the first half. The only chance of such came when a far out struck shot left Lord Edwards with a tip round to prevent the goal. Any other keeper it would have been an exellent save. It was just Neil Edwards doing his normal stuff.
Half time came and saw an entertaining match between two teams of nine year olds who turned up wearing the same kit.(nice planning). There was one player who shone out by a mile with his skills and had the required height to play for Dale up front.
The second half was completely dire. We may have started it one up, but there was very few Dale fans who expected to get a result out of this match even at this point. Cardiff had chance after chance in the second half, and should have scored when they hit the underside of the bar about ten minutes into the half, only for it to rebound out. They eventually scored with a shot that gave Neil Edwards absoultely no chance, prompting Oldham scumbag Jon Hallworth in the Cardiff nets to turn round and, shall we say, let us know his side had equalised.
The winner came within five minutes in a similar fashion with neil Edwards in no chance.
GB brought on Graham Lancashire in an effort to snatch something from the jaws of victory, but nothing came. True, there were a hell of a lot more chances when Lanky came on, but we were almost resigned to defeat. A couple of six yard box scrambles followed, but we really got what we deserve.
Dale : Edwards, Sparrow (Leonard), Stokes, Farrell, Monington, Hill (Johnson), Diaz, Painter, Bailey (Lancashire), Bryson, Stuart.
This next bit hurts. I have always been a fan of Graham Barrow through thick and thin, but things are not working. Every Dale fans freely admits that this squad is one of the best we have ever had and Barrow deserves credit for that, but things are not working on the field. Despite winning at half time, we always expected to lose. There was no surprise when they equalised, then quickly took the lead.
Put simply, both fans and players have lost heart. There was a poor turnout from Dale today with only about a hundred making the journey down. We have seen in midweek what Jason Peake has had to say about GB. It is getting extremely difficult to defend him anymore.
I think that GB has at most two games to turn things round, or he will face the boot. He said recently that at Hull when one all we should have settled for a point. We seemd to do that when winning one nil. I would love him to prove me wrong ( I really would), but its getting hard to see how he can.