Dale slipped to their fifth successive home defeat as a late, late winner secured all three points for Chesterfield.
Rochdale crashed to yet another home defeat this time at the hands of play-off rivals Chesterfield. A last minute free kick drilled home by Peter Leven from a dubious refereeing decision was enough to give the Spireites the victory and leave Dale clinging to any hopes of reaching the play-offs.
On a day that was heralded as a day to show the town what we as a club are made of, today can only be described as a major disappointment. The Superfan initiative despite a tremendous effort by all involved never really produced results with an attendance about the same of what we would normally produce for this fixture. And after today’s poor showing from Rochdale, who can argue with those who simply will not come to watch home games.
Dale made an enforced change to the starting line-up as Tom Kennedy was suspended. This led to David Perkins giving up his midfield spot and slotting in at left back, alongside Nathan Stanton, Rory McArdle and Simon Ramsden. James Spencer continued in goal in the absence of first choice Sammy Russell. The absence of Perks led to a first start for on-loan Chris Basham who put in a decent performance and picked up the sponsors Man of the Match award. He was partnered in centre midfield by Gary Jones, with Adam Rundle and Kallum Higginbotham on the wings. Lee Thorpe returned to the side and partnered on-loan Rene Howe up front.
The first half was as a dull a game as Spotland has seen this season with neither side offering anything of note. The best chance of the half fell to the visitors as Jack Lester fired a tame shot straight at Spencer from the edge of the box from some good work by Downson on the right. Dale failed to really offer anything going forward despite having lots of possession, the best chance coming early as Adam Rundle headed wide when he probably should have at least worked the goalkeeper.
In fact the first half was so much of a non-affair that the Sandy Lane terrace resorted to songs about pigeons, chav away fans and everyone's favourite Ginger Mourinho who was today absent from the Sandy and had took his perch in the main stand following some sort of accident!
The second half didn’t see much more entertainment Dale again struggled to create any chances of note and I think I would be correct in stating that we didn’t have a single shot on target all game. Adam Le Fondre was brought on for the ineffective Rene Howe but it didn’t really make much difference. Le Fondre did have one excellent opportunity but he somehow managed to miss his header completely following an excellent Rundle cross from the wing.
Chesterfield themselves rarely threatened and the game had a 0-0 draw written all over it as both teams had seemingly cancelled each other out. But with time running out a bizarre decision from the officials saw a shoulder charge just outside the Dale area considered as a foul when it really should been play on. Fortunately this first free kick was cleared but not far enough and Chesterfield won another one which was even more dubious and had the WMG in uproar at the decision. Cue the ball being smashed into the net for an undeserved winner for the visitors, and Dale were resigned to defeat once more in front of an ever-decreasing Spotland faithful.
Time was played out as Dale rarely looked like getting near the visitors goals let alone fashioning any sort of chance, and that as they say was that. The defeat now leaves Dale 6 points behind 7th place with just two games in hand, and a home record to be embarrassed by. Away form may be our only chance of still making the play-offs though with performances like today it’s a wonder if we will still be able to keep that form going.