The second meeting in five days bore very little resemblance to the Gills comfortable victory at the weekend as Dale made a host of changes. The omni-present left-back Tom Kennedy replaced loanee Tom Newey to take his rightful place in the starting line-up along with Nathan Stanton (replacing Marcus Holness), Ciaran Toner (Mark Jones), Lee Thorpe (Jon Shaw) and Adam Le Fondre (Chris Dagnall). The under-strength Dale side struggled to make an impression against Gillingham; who only brought back Andy Barcham, veteran keeper Simon Royce and star striker Simeon Jackson. This gave me the impression that Gillingham had shown their hand more fully than Rochdale. The result was that I was hopeful that Dale would secure a passage to Wembley over the two legs. On the other hand, I was quite nervous. Every fan must feel like this in the scenario, at home in the first leg is a disadvantage and it is imperative that Dale take a lead down to Kent. The vast majority of nerves came from the fear of finding Dale out of the tie by the second leg. As far as I was concerned, a narrow lead would do just fine, although a draw wouldn’t be a nightmare.
If this game could have been more even, I have no suggestions as to how. The League Two play-off semi-final first leg between Dale and Gillingham at Spotland was hard-fought to say the least. It was quite clear that Gillingham were content to pick up a draw, cue constant time wasting and a counter-attacking strategy. As for Dale, they found it difficult to break the door down all night as chances were few and far between. If anyone was going to break the deadlock, it was the prodigious Will Buckley; who was eager to end his breakthrough season with a defining goal (or to put himself in the shop window). He gave Joe Nutter, the brilliantly-named Gillingham left-back, a torrid time and the defender entered the book after half-an-hour for a poor tackle from behind (a source of inconsistency from the referee as he had let an identical incident pass on the other wing just minutes earlier). Buckley was to tire as the game progressed and failed to capitalise on his marker’s caution, however, he did conjure up Rochdale’s best attempt- ending a mazy run with a strike that flashed just wide. The Gills almost responded to the pressure on the brink of half-time, forcing an excellent save from a close range header by Frank Fielding. The on-loan Blackburn Rovers keeper got down well to tip the ball around the post and Dale got away with it.
The second half was more of the same as very little separated the two sides. The two best attempts came from long range, courtesy of Gillingham’s Stuart Lewis and Dale’s captain Gary Jones. First, Lewis struck a fizzing ball from around 25 yards that was parried away spectacularly by Fielding to the safety of the touchline. Not to be bettered, Jones attempted a spinning volley that was also met by an aerial parry from Royce. I had seen Jones practicing this type of effort in the warm-up (where he shanked it, naturally), so it was good to see it come off in the game, although, unfortunately, it didn’t produce the desired result. With chances becoming increasingly few and far between, Dagnall had Dale’s final opportunity. Striking from a tight angle, he forced a good save from Royce low down to his left. The referee, of course, missed the save and gave a goal kick. However, this was nothing compared to the blinding error that he would make in the dying stages.
A Gillingham corner saw the usual pushing-and-shoving, attracting the attention of the official. While he was focusing on Rory McArdle’s confrontation with substitute Mark McCammon (nothing out of the ordinary), he walked right past Albert Jarrett just after he had head-butted his marker, Nathan Stanton. The crowd, including me, were incensed by the referee’s failure to see the incident, especially after last year’s controversy with David Perkins. The influential midfielder missed Dale’s final at Wembley last season for a ‘phantom tackle’ as he was sent for intent. To sum it up, it was a decidedly dodgy decision. Also, the fact that Perkins’ ‘misdemeanour’ was televised on Sky probably contributed to his dismissal meant that surely Jarrett should be sited after the game? He won’t be, hence Rochdale will probably screwed yet again.
The game petered out to a 0-0 draw, which is a decent result, although not ideal. The problem may be that Dale’s advantage has gone as it will be difficult to defeat Gillingham on their own patch. A home win is possibly required to secure a place at Wembley on many occasions. I hope it doesn’t cost Rochdale. As for Bury, they have no such worries. A somewhat ‘flukey’ own goal gave them a slender away advantage against Shrewsbury Town. The own goal in question was completed by Neil Ashton, whose attempted pass-back looped over Luke Daniels in the Shrews’ goal. The goal must have secured Bury’s place at Wembley. Damn!
So Dale, for the second year running, had failed to secure a positive result in the first leg of the ploay-offs, although this time they didn’t have the luxury of home advantage in the defining match. A long trip to Kent awaits. Hopefully, a successful one.
Tags: League Two, Rochdale AFC, League 2, Rochdale
