Better late than never is the old saying but i'll leave that for you to decide as I try my first match report for a long, long time.
Come on, let’s be honest. We never expected to win this one did we? If ever a game was so set up for a Dale defeat this was the one.
Cracking away form, decent side in town, absolutely mammoth task by staff and supporters to get the game on and a big crowd expected. Even the most optimistic fan couldn’t see a win could they?
Erm, well I could given that I went for a 3-0 win on the prediction league but it’s not the first time I’ve been wildly wrong all season and I’m fairly sure it won’t be the last.
Unlike a lot of sides this season, Peterborough came for three points and ultimately walked away with them all. Make no mistake, they are a decent side and I’d be shocked to the core if they didn’t end the season in the top three. They had class in every department and thoroughly deserved to leave Spotland with the points.
Dale lined up with two changes from the starting line up at Chester with new boy Lee Thorpe replacing the ineligible Rene Howe and Nathan Stanton taking the place of Marcus Holness who can consider himself damn unlucky after a fine performance in midweek.
It was clear from the off that Peterborough had the makings of a very good side and only good defending kept them at bay for the opening period of the game. I have to admit however that most of my first half consisted of ‘chav watch’ as I laughed at the Posh fans who were clearly intent on standing throughout the match regardless of the advice of stewards and police. The best moment came though when one of the Burberry boys was scalded by his wife which meant him remaining in his seat for the rest of the half as she patrolled the area at the front of the stand.
What little action I did take in left me extremely grateful that we went in at half time on level terms with the hope that we could get a foothold in the game.
Alas it wasn’t to be and Peterborough started the half as they ended the first with lots of possession in our half of the field. After around ten minutes of the half Posh took the lead through a George Boyd 25 yarder which I only turned to see as it went past Russell’s flailing left hand. Apparently he could have done better but again something distracted me from the game therefore I can’t really offer any opinion (I know, someone reporting on a match they barely saw).
The home fans were slightly lifted a few minutes later as Dale made a double substitution with Rundle replacing an under par Doolan and Muirhead coming in for a perhaps jaded Higginbotham. The move nearly paid off almost immediately with Rundle firing across the box but Muirhead couldn’t apply the finish under pressure from a defender.
The inevitable sucker punch came not long after as McLean tapped the ball home from a well worked free kick and from then on it was just a case of Fergie’s boys knocking it about nicely as Dale tried to get back into a game that was well out of their reach after a fairly toothless attacking performance.
In my opinion it was just one of those days where the better team won and to be fair we won’t come up against many teams as good as this at home between now and the end of the season. I’m confident the home form will improve and I’ll be there on Tuesday trying to watch more of the game as we seek an important three points.