Two crucial offside decisions by the linesman in the opening few minutes handed this game to Darlington on a plate. They were both very debatable, but Darlo scored from both to race into a two goal lead, and from that moment on, Dale were always up against it.

Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? Well if you had gone to today's match up at Feethams, that would be precisely the feeling that you would have come away with. Dale found themselves two down after just twenty minutes, with many feeling very angry towards the decisions of the officials. Television replays will eventually prove the decisions to be either fantastic or bloody awful. If you were there, you'd have had your mind made up straight away.

A good number of Dale fans made the journey up to the North East for this encounter. Despite the all ticket status of the game, Dale managed to sell out the standing area in front of the stand, and sold many a ticket for the seated area. There was probably about 600 or so Dale fans in total. The rest of the ground looked fairly full which is in deep contrast to traditional Dale vs. Darlo matches. The £5 entry policy is certainly working up there, and must be considered as an option for when the new Willbutts Lane stand is built.

The Darlo pitch showed no signs of improvement on last season, and had it not been for the very pleasant weather, the game would certainly have been in doubt. The game began with Dale trying to put their recent disappointing results well behind them. Boss Steve Parkin had rung the changes with a return from injury for Tony Ellis. Midfielder Gary Jones had to make do with a place on the bench as Jason Peake returned to first team action after a bout of flu. Also Graeme Atkinson was back in side in place of Chris Bettney who wasn't even on the bench. There was still no Graham Lancashire whose thigh strain is lingering on.

The game started well enough for Dale and they had a good shout for a penalty turned down by referee Paul Danson who was kicked out of the Premiership a couple of years back. One of the Darlo defenders went down in the box, handling the ball in the process, but Danson ruled that he had been fouled.

In the second minute, everything went pear shaped. Facially challenged striker Marco Gabbiadini received the ball, despite looking at least ten yards offside. He took advantage of the fact that he was so far clear of the Dale defence, but mucked up his shot by firing it weakly at keeper Paul Gibson. Unfortunately, Gibson could not control this effort, and the ball eventually fell to Duffield who poked the ball into the back of the net. This goal provoked very angry scenes on the away terrace from Dale fans that felt that the linesman should have held his flag up for offside.
Dale tried their best to get back into the match, and despite a headed chance from Graeme Atkinson, they could not penetrate the home defence. And it was not long before the linesman was again doing his best to aggravate the travelling supporters. Goalscorer Duffield slotted the ball through to winger Wainwright who had raced through. Again, he looked offside by a couple of yards, but it was a lot more marginal than the first one. He raced through before curling the ball past keeper Gibson. In many Dale fans eyes, we were two down with the linesman being responsible for both goals.

However, within a couple of minutes Dale were back in the game. Dale got a free kick that Graeme Atkinson took. Platt got a touch before Tony Ellis finished it off to give Dale a chance.

This goal totally revived Dale's chances and for a matter of time it looked like Dale would get an equaliser sooner rather than later. Dale had a couple of half chances but nothing which really tested keeper Samways.
Just as the game was setting itself up nicely for the second half, Gabbiadini went and ruined everything with a goal that most of the Dale fans were left applauding. He got the ball with time outside of the Dale box. He seemed to take too long, when there were Darlo players in acres of space on the far side, but he steadied himself and curled the ball into the far corner with Gibson having no chance whatsoever. The linesman could not be blamed for this one.
The second half began with signs that the Gabbiadini goal had knocked the stuffing out of Dale, and we rarely looked like getting back into the match. Chances in the second half were very rare for Dale as the game was almost over bar the shouting (at the linesman). Dale continued to work hard, but could not get through a defence well marshalled by ex Port Vale defender and Joe Hinnigan lookalike Neil Aspin.

With twenty minutes to go, Darlo put the goal beyond doubt. Former Dale defender Adam Reed fed the ball through to Duffield, who crossed over to winger Wainwright who made it four one.

At this point, Darlo looked capable of running up a cricket score, but fair play to Dale, they kept battling right to the end, and caused a lot of problems for the Darlo defence in the last few minutes. Even with injury time upon them, they kept battling on, and they never let their heads drop once. That if nothing else would have pleased manager Steve Parkin.

Dale: Gibson, Evans, McAuley, Hill, Bayliss, Ford, Peake, Flitcroft, Atkinson, Ellis, Platt. Subs Jones, Morris

Photo: Action Images

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