A plucky Dale performance went unrewarded as they went out of the Worthington Cup at Sheffield Wednesday. An early goal from Sibon settling the tie.
Once again Dale stood up to their superior opposition and in all fairness were unlucky not to go through. If this is the standard of the first division then Dale should have no worries when we finally get out of the third.
Dale stuck with the same team that finished the game at Carlisle. There was no place for McEvilly in the squad due to injury. Paddy McCourt was recalled to the bench after international duty.
The early goal simply caught Dale off guard. A mistake by Evans let in Sibon to coolly chip the ball over an advancing Neil Edwards from a very tight angle.
Dale however fought their way back into the match, and were more than a match for their first division opponents. Matt Doughty and Paul Simpson both going close from the edge of the area with fierce drives.
Dale had a claim for a penalty turned down, when Paul Connor was mauled to the ground. The referee, who was a complete 'homer' chose to ignore it though. Dale then crashed an effort against the woodwork, following a goal mouth scramble from a corner.
The second half was a more open affair with Wednesday giving the tiring Dale defence a bit of a battering, however Edwards was in fine form and kept everything out.At the other end Dale had a great opportunity to rescue something when Connor went through on goal, but his shot was well saved by Pressman.
The second half seemingly turned into a farce at times though, as Wednesday players dropped to the deck every 30 seconds as though they had been shot. Interesting to hear a Wednesday fan claiming we should try our luck at karate! The amount of diving going on though in the second half I thought we had turned up at a swimming event.
Dale brought on Paddy McCourt in an attempt to salvage something, his mazy dribbles gave Wednesday problems, but he couldn't find the end product. Townson also came on as a late sub, he managed to make Pressman make a good save at his near post to tip over.
With time running out, and only 4 minutes of injury time (surely must have been more like 10 mins with all the injuries Wednesday were faking) Dale just couldn't get that elusive goal. Wednesday resorted to keep ball in the corner, as they seemingly were running scared of a Dale fight back.
Was a gutsy display by Dale, and at times our play was brilliant, managing to outplay a first division side in a few patches. Only concern once again was the lack of pace we possess which seemed to be our downfall at the back. But nevertheless was a spirited and well fought showing and we definitely gave a good account of ourselves. On another day we would have got the win, just wasn't to be this time.