Dale got back to winning ways with a 2-1 win against Grimsby at Blundell Park, with goals from Adam Le Fondre and Glenn Murray. Match report now online.
Rochdale returned to winning ways last night with an excellent 2-1 victory
over Alan Buckley's Grimsby Town. I don't like using cliches unless they're good
ones but it was a game of two halves as Grimsby dominated things in the first
half with Rochdale perhaps slightly fortunate to go into the half time break
level at 1-1 while the second half was completely bossed by Rochdale resulting
in us finding a second half winner. The goals came courtesy of Adam Le Fondre
and Glenn Murray with Adam Rundle setting both of them up and I even thought at
the time that the cross for Alfie's goal had gone straight in but the mobile
phones around us were telling us that Alfie got the final touch.
The team pretty much picks itself these days with the injuries we have but Hill
opted to leave Kennedy in at centre half alongside McArdle while Perkins
continued at left back and on loan Marcus Holness was left on the bench. The
team was, Spencer in net, Lomax at right back, Perkins at left back with Kennedy
and McArdle at centre back. Muirhead was on the right with Rundle on the left
and Jones and Doolan in the middle and Le Fondre and Murray up front. On the
bench were Russell, Holness, Thompson, Prendergast and Higginbotham.
Rochdale started off quite well and were ahead with just over ten minutes
played. Lomax was brought down out wide on the right wing and Adam Rundle swung
a fantastic freekick into the box which Le Fondre just managed to glance past
Barnes and into the back of the net for his third goal of the season. From where
we were stood it actually looked like Rundle's freekick had gone straight in but
one Dale fan was insisting that Le Fondre got his bonce to it and he was proved
correct by the numerous mobile phone results updates.
Grimsby didn't like that one bit and decided to to attack and they did it with
ease and it's fair to say we severely struggled against them when they pressured
us. With Andy Thorpe's physio room as full as a fat girl's shoe with players,
Hilly has been forced into looking into the loan market this week and has failed
to secure anyone's services, one source last night informed me that one player
we did go for was actually making his debut for Grimsby in the form of Shaleum
Logan from Manchester City. How typical then that he was the man to cause us
most problems. First time he skinned David Perkins and drilled a cross into the
box which was blocked but he wasn't to be denied much longer as on 18 minutes,
David Perkins was dispossessed by Logan and the rapid right back broke forward,
played a one two with Till and smashed the ball past Spencer to make it 1-1.
The home side began to dominate after that and looked like scoring every time
they broke forward. McArdle and Kennedy weren't looking comfortable at all and
Perkins had pretty much had a mare up to that point but it was Dale who had the
next good chance. In fact, it wasn't a good chance, it was a sitter which should
have been converted quite easily. Adam Rundle again put a cracking ball into the
box which went over Murray but straight to Le Fondre who volleyed over from
about 12 yards when it was easier to score and he knew it as well.
Dale seemed to be camped in their own half too much in the first half which got
the fans screaming for the defence to push out as it was inviting Grimsby to
attack and although they kept on breaking forward, they couldn't make the most
of it.
John Doolan joined the never ending list of casualties at Dale as he limped off
with a hamstring problem which meant that Marcus Holness came on for his league
debut. He slotted in alongside McArdle, allowing Perkins to go back into the
midfield and Kennedy to go to left back where they both belong. You could see
from the moment the change occurred that we were looking a more balanced side.
The half time whistle went and Dale were lucky to be going in level really.
Grimsby nearly went ahead a few minutes after the re-start when their Gary Jones
shot goalwards forcing Spencer into making an excellent save after Rankin had
broken into the box.
From then on, it was pretty much all Dale and it was us who took the lead again
and again, it came through Adam Rundle.
His first time left footed cross was absolutely pinpoint, beat Barnes and landed
right on Glenn Murray's head which he diverted into the back of the net for his
third of the season making it 2-1 Dale. It was a left footed cross of such
quality that Graeme Atkinson would be proud of it and we all know how good he
was.
Dale continued to take the game to Grimsby and they looked a lot more
comfortable in defence with Holness impressing and Kennedy being his consistent
self and McArdle looking twice the player he was in the first half. Even the out
of form players such as Muirhead and Murray were looking excellent with Muirhead
looking to get involved at every opportunity and causing numerous problems for
the Mariners defence.
Gary Jones was also looking an awful lot better in midfield with Perkins and
must have covered every blade of grass in what was a quality captain's
performance.
The game seemed to fizzle out a little from then with Dale looking the more
likely to score but without creating any clear cut opportunities.
The referee finally blew for full time and it was time for me to race back to
Royton to begin my nightshift!
Player Ratings:
Spencer - 7
Lomax - 7
Perkins - 6
Kennedy - 7
McArdle - 7
Muirhead - 7
Rundle - 8 (Man of the Match)
Doolan - 6
Jones - 8
Murray - 7
Le Fondre - 7
Holness - 7