With the likes of Bradford, Wycombe and Chesterfield already faced, Rochdale continued to come up against their promotion rivals with Exeter’s visit to Spotland. The Grecians, freshly promoted from the Blue Square Premier, were going for a second consecutive promotion and were looking to continue their progress. In the reverse fixture, they had triumphed over Dale with a resounding 4-1 victory, leaving Hill’s men in no doubt that this game would be a difficult one.
Aware of the difficulty of the fixture, Rochdale looked eager to get ahead and came out with a scintillating passing game that dominated the southern side. This evaluation was lost on Sky (who had a reporter for Soccer Saturday at the game) who reported that Rochdale had been poor and Exeter had been on top. Not quite sure how they could see the game like that, but oh well. Unfortunately, Liam Sercombe’s free-kick then thundered off the bar for Exeter, almost confirming that Sky’s reporter was correct. Thankfully, Rochdale answered this criticism in the best possible way by scoring from a corner (it’s very rare to celebrate anything from a corner). After a flick-on, Lee Thorpe could not miss from close range and had the simple task of nodding home, especially when you can consider that he is better with his head than his feet! This theory was validated only a couple of minutes later when Thorpe poked a volley wide from 12 yards. His miss seemed insignificant at the time, but would come back to haunt Rochdale after the break.
One of Rochdale’s major flaws is their tendency to concede just after the break and it reared its ugly head once again. Almost a decade ago, Marcus Stewart was setting the Premiership alight with surprise package Ipswich. The former Tractor Boys veteran managed to cause mayhem in the area after an Exeter counterattack. Controlling the ball quite clearly with his arm, Stewart rolled the ball in as he left Fielding and McArdle on the floor. Needless to say, the Rochdale fans were distressed by the referee’s failure to spot the infringement, although it wasn’t a patch on the travesty of Saltergate! From then onwards, doom and gloom set in as it looked like Dale would fail at home once again. No fans do doom and gloom like Rochdale! There did seem to be light amongst the clouds later in the half as Buckley was felled in the area and the referee, possibly keen to make up for his earlier error, gave the penalty. Every time Adam Le Fondre steps up to take a penalty, everybody seems to remember that he is a self-confessed spot-kick ‘specialist’. As a result, it is always perplexing when he misses as he did here. Luckily, the rebound came straight back and he hammered it into the roof of the net to give Dale a critical lead.
Well, I thought the lead would be critical. As it was, the lead only lasted for a minute. Exeter literally went down the other end of the pitch and scored. Stuart Fleetwood burst into the area and Nathan Stanton mysteriously went for the sliding tackled very early, which allowed Fleetwood to ‘let himself to be collected’ by the Rochdale defender for a penalty. It was a stupidly naive foul from a supposedly experienced defender. Up stepped Stewart to complete what, with his experience, was surely a formality. He rolled it home with predictable ease and Exeter were level.
The game ended in a draw, representing another missed opportunity for the Dale. At this crunch stage of the season, these are the games that need to be won, especially against rivals like Exeter City. Rochdale’s failure may possibly see them miss out on automatic promotion. If only Thorpe’s missed volley had nestled in the corner! It doesn’t get any easier for Dale, with a long trip to Bournemouth in the next game. They are notoriously difficult to beat at home, but a win may be a necessity. C’mon Dale!
Tags: League 2, League Two, Rochdale, Rochdale AFC
