Dale kicked off 2017-18 with a 1-0 victory over National League North Champions AFC Fylde in what was a standard preseason outing.

It was a first visit to Fylde's Mill Farm ground. It looks light years ahead of the old one and matches their ambition for League Football. For the uninitiated,they have one big stand that holds 2,000 and appears to have plenty of corporate facilities behind it, and two covered terraces on two sides of the ground.

They also have what must be the most state of the art supporters' bar I've seen any level with more TV's on display than a trip to Comet, showing every sports channel going. It was a long way from the days of Grandstand or World of Sport.

As you get in pre-season, we had an outing for everyone in the squad, and as if it needed any form of confirmation, the absence of RNL would suggest its game over for him at Dale.

The stand out talking point was the inclusion of 15 year old Daniel Adshead. The Year 10 student has had much hype over the past twelve months and you could see why on this display. His reading of the game was at times even beyond his team mates.

We looked pretty comfortable in the first half, and whilst you can never read anything into these games, I'd have said that we looked more in control than we had in previous years against Fylde, but like I said, that doesn't mean a great deal.

The winner came from a Steven Davies free kick from the right hand side of the box. It looked marginal as to whether it was outside the box in the first place, but he blasted into the back of the net with the keeper having no chance.

The downside was seeing Joe Bunney, so influential last season, hobbling down the touchline with his left leg in a brace with suggestions being that it will be six weeks before he will be back.

Overall, it was a decent run out against decent opposition, and we never really looked like conceding throughout the game.

Dale 1st half:
Lillis, Brown, McGahey, McNulty, Kitching, Adshead, Camps, Allen, Andrew, Inman, Henderson.

Dale 2nd half:
Lillis, Rafferty, Kitching (Kearney), Keane, Canavan, Brown (Redshaw), Cannon, Rathbone, Williams, Gillam (Morley), Davies.

Photo: Action Images

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