Damn! This game was most definitely two dropped points. Very frustrating. Apparently, Dale have gone 15 matches without a clean sheet and it’s in games like this that a statistic like that starts to hurt you.
This game was a real clash of football styles with Keith Hill’s flowing passing moves going up against Keith Alexanders ‘blood and thunder’, ‘hoof’ tactics. Keith Alexander has used this style wherever he has been (including Bury) and there is no doubting it’s success as he took Lincoln into the play-offs for three consecutive seasons, a place they’ve been nowhere near since. It is a really frustrating tactic to watch as it is incredibly difficult to play against. The long ball up to the strikers and the shooting on sight is almost impossible to totally nullify, especially when your a team of Dale’s short stature. This even got a team as poor as Macclesfield seem to be a point that I believe was somewhat undeserved.
The first-half was a dull of affair with Dale mostly dominating possession, but Macclesfield battled well and made it very difficult for the home side. There were no proper chances of note, though Dale had more decent opportunities as they were a lot more patient than a Macc and their ’shoot on sight’ policy. In fact, the biggest cheer of the whole half came once Bury’s half-time score came through. I really could not believe that they lost to Grimsby, who were yet to win this season. The trouble down the road was arguably more engrossing than the match that I attended, not sure my friend will agree…
The second half was immediately more open with Lee Thorpe going find himself in a great position to score in the opening moments. As is so often the case with Thorpedo, his anticipation and timing let him down slightly and he misjudged just how long he had to pick his spot. Dale continued to press for the opener with Adam Rundle and Kennedy (via set-pieces) both regularly testing the wonderfully-named Jonathon Brain in the Macc goal. It was Rundle who opened the scoring just beyond the hour mark. After a glorious goalmouth scramble (you really have to love the lower leagues, you just don’t see them as much in the Premiership), Rundle somehow managed to force the ball over the line. I could describe in fine detail just how he did it, but, eventhough it was right in front of me, I had no idea what occurred. Needless to say, I celebrated like a madman regardless. As Dale pushed for the killer second goal, it seemed they were shoe-ins for a fifth-straight league victory, but they were denied 9 minutes from time. A long ball found Izak Reid on Macc’s right-wing and he delivered a beaut of a cross right on to the forehead of Nat Brown, who fizzed an unstoppable bullet header way beyond a motionless Russell. It was their only real chance of the game (their only others coming from desperate shots at goal).
The game ended 1-1, representing two dropped points for Dale. This is, perhaps, a measure of just how far Dale have come under Hill, who wonderfully commented on the lack of clean sheets with:
“If you draw it to my attention that we haven’t had a clean sheet in 15 games, I’ll draw it to your attention that we are fourth in the league and we are unbeaten in something like seven or eight games.”
With an attitude like that, I think we’ll be OK! They’ll have the chance to make it ‘eight or nine’ next week at home to basement boys, Luton, but first, there is the small matter of an FA Cup replay against Barnet. I’m betting on a clean sheet…
Tags: Bury, Bury FC, League 2, League Two, Rochdale, Rochdale AFC
