Dale crashed 2-1 at home to neighbours Bury after gifting the visitors two goals in the opening minutes of the game. Report now online
| Well that wasn't in the script. Pre-match talk was of what might happen
to Bury if they conceded a couple of early goals. At no point at all did it
occur that it might have been them who grabbed the two early goals. And that
was pretty much it for the game. Bury grabbed two goals in the opening
minutes, then stuck everyone behind the ball for the rest of the game happy
to try and take Dale on the break. Consider this a victory for evil over good. The dark side over the light. A win for all those who felt that John Beck style of football is indeed the way the game should be played, and to hell with what the purists might think. But when you're under pressure like Bury managers Casper and Alexander, then you take whatever you can get.
As for ourselves, we didn't play that badly. But as anyone who carried out their own post mortem after the game will tell you, you cannot go gifting sides a 2-0 lead and then expect anything other than an uphill struggle from that point on. Could we have got anything out of this game? Yes, and maybe an equaliser would have brought a third, but ultimately the packed out Bury defence did their job resolutely, making it extremely difficult for us to break them down.
We were pretty much one nil down from the off. Have no idea of the official time of the goal, and am in no mood to spend any time at all discovering whether it was minute two or minute three. But 1-0 down we went and a through ball caught the Dale defence in 6's and 7's and with an unrushing Spencer, former Dale trialist Andy Mangan managed to nudge the ball past the Dale keeper and in a slow motion stylee, the ball trickled towards the back of the net.
And as we speculated on how the League Two comeback kings were going to plot their next Graham Norton act, we made things extra difficult for ourselves by conceding again.
There was a touch of good fortune about the goal, in the same way that we benefited at Shrewsbury last week, and a Nicky Adams shot took a wicked deflection of Kelvin Lomax, giving the already diving Spencer no chance at all. 2-0 to the Shakers and they were getting a bit excited in the packed out H, D and A blocks on the Willbutts Lane.
If we were going to come back from this, then we were going to have to do it the hard way, as Bury simply sat back, packed out their own defence and looked to launch it forward to the scrambling Bishop and Mangan. It proved to be very successful.
Chances for Dale never really went beyond half chances. Alfie had one of his trademark over head kicks, and when one comes off, we'll talk about it for years. We didn't talk about it Saturday night.
Half time saw Dale leave the pitch to boos, and even one person not far from me trying to orchestrate "What a load of rubbish". Much underserved. Yes the scoreline wasn't good enough, but it was far from a performance which lacked effort.
Dale boss Keith Hill went with a double substitution, taking off both wingers and bringing on young Kallum Higginbotham and Rory Prendergast. And it was the former Oldham trainee Higginbotham who proved to be the difference as Dale changed formation and took the game to the visitors.
It was a tactical switch which so very nearly paid off. Bury spent pretty much the rest of the game on the back foot, but in all fairness to them they managed to do so whilst restricting Dale to just a handful of chances.
Kelvin Lomax was the first one to threaten to get us back into the game, when his long range effort caught the diminutive Bury keeper by surprise and a decent save was required to put it out for a corner.
But we got back into the game in the most unlikely of circumstances. Tom Kennedy, who's every touch was accompanied by a string of boos from the away support, found himself on the right wing and he used his right foot to cross the ball for Rory McArdle to head home in the centre. Game on.
But for all the possession that we had, our chances never really went beyond being half chances. Bury flooded the box over and over again, and a clear shot was rarely available.
Indeed, we could have conceded again as Bury nearly caught us on the break a couple of times, where their strikers were given the freedom of the Pearl Street half to themselves and had it not been for Tom Kennedy racing back, then we could have been on the end of a hammering.
We kept battling right to the end, without creating anything which you could put down as being more than just half a chance. Some Dale players took the battle bit literally and John Doolan could consider himself extremely lucky not to be red carded in the final seconds after a clear two footed challenge. Seems he hates Bury for some reason after his tunnel antics at Gigg Lane last season.
Post match talk from both sets of supporters was how this game was all part of a master plan. A Bury win would ultimately keep Casper in his job that bit longer, ensuring a season of misery for the Bury faithful. If only it was that simple.
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