Cod Almighty | Match Report
by Mike Worden
27 March 2010
Rochdale 4 Grimsby Town 1
Alcohol filling the air, some bloke saying he was going to sort somebody out because somebody else was in the seat he had paid for, unrecognisable faces, the big flag. On arrival at Spotland at 2:59, this greeting must mean one thing: the annual free day out for the Cleethorpes trippers. Ten Fenty-funded buses had descended on north Rochdale and the occupants were demanding beer, pies and commitment from the boys in third-choice red. One of those would run out at half time.
Long gone are the days when we might have said fourth division football means we have to play teams like Rochdale, as Dale are on the way out of the division the right way. Just a matter of time until it's mathematically certain. There is a pre-celebratory mood around Spotland. The party is being planned. The blue and black balloons are on order, and the vinyl version of We are the Champions' is in the to be collected' tray at Sid's record shop on Rochdale market. Rochdale are no longer a laugh: they are the best side in the division, a far cry from when Tony Gallimore graced the blue shirt in the not so distant past. They are heading north; we are walking south.
Town lined up sans Devitt (well, it sounds a bit French), with Colgan in the sticks, a back four of Bore, Atkinson, Stirling and Widdowson, a midfield of Sinclair and Sweeney in the middle with Coulson and Akpra Akpro wide and Captain Peacock and Chambers up front.
First half
The first 10 minutes saw a lot of huff and puff with Town urged on by the noisy day trippers along the side of the ground. Colgan made a good save to deny Dagnall, and Town were soaking up Dale pressure and making life more uncomfortable for themselves by giving the ball away in midfield. This was typified by Sinclair unnecessarily giving away a free kick, from which fortunately nothing came. In the 16th minute, though, the pressure could not be held back any further. A high ball came in from Toner on the Dale right and Thompson rose in slow motion to head past Colgan, with Stirling watching. One-nil and here we go again. Minutes later the Dale lead was doubled when Dagnall, Dale's best player, ran through the middle and hit a shot into the corner of Colgan's net.
Town tried to get one back and Akpro headed well over Fielding's goal. Fielding looked splendid in a day-glo bright all-orange outfit. Stirling got hurt trying to bring the ball out of defence when O'Grady slid into him. Both players lay on the floor with Stirling keen to stay there until half time. Whether he got hurt in that incident or not, he didn't fire on all four cylinders after and was taken off in the second half. His forte is his long throw, which gives Town another attacking option, a trick used at every opportunity but without making a great impact today.
With five minutes of the half left, the Rochdale forwards gave Town a lesson in finishing with a slick move culminating in Dagnall slipping the ball past Colgan from the corner of the six-yard box. Town responded well, though, to lift the mood in the dressing room when Chambers knocked a loose ball into the net following a Sweeney free kick. Chambers grabbed the ball and signalled his intentions by putting it on the centre spot for the restart.
Three minutes of time were added and in this period Akpro was put through for a one-on-one with Fielding. Akpro versus the day-glo and you guessed it, the day-glo won.
Half time and the massed ranks of Town trippers headed underneath the stand in search of pies, beer and the Cheltenham score. The Rochdale weekly pie order had not been adjusted to cater for the Fenty bus folk and once the no pies left' sign had gone up, public disorder looked on the cards, with the Greater Manchester plod ready to step in and deal with any pie rage incidents.
Second half
Town looked better than they did in the first half and should have got another goal back when, from a long Stirling throw, the ball came to Akpro with his back to goal. He tried an overhead kick which went miles over the bar. Soon after that chance Peacock fired just over the bar from the right, and this was arguably Town's best spell of the whole game.
On the hour O'Grady was booked for a dive in the box, one of few decisions Mr Graham was going to be brave enough to give Town all afternoon. Sinclair, who'd been ineffectual all game, went off to be replaced by Mark Hudson. Chambers and Coulson both had chances within a minute of each other and then, following a Sweeney mistake, O'Grady broke away but his shot flew wide.
Chambers went off to be replaced by Proudlock, who stayed out wide rather than swapping places with Akpro as they did at Morecambe. This is not Proudlock's most effective position and twice he looked lost as what to do, dropping far too deep when he needed to be pushing forward. Woods kept the fourth official busy by introducing Lancashire onto the Lancashire field for the struggling Stirling.
Atkinson made heavy weather of winning the ball in an encounter with a Rochdale player and was booked for pulling the man down after initially losing the ball. Shortly afterwards, a comical piece of action involving Hudson, Sweeney and Coulson typified Town's inability to do the simple things. They all got in each other's way in Town's half of the field and went through a sketch of having the ball, losing the ball, trying to win it back and then falling over as the Rochdale players came away with it.
Towards the end of the game Rochdale were just coasting and playing with Town and it was no surprise when Dagnall scored another, getting hold of the ball in the box and beating Colgan easily. Cue the start of the trickle back to the Fenty buses and final chants of how much we love the club. Town's defence looked very shaky, and up front the finishing was poor in contrast to Dale. They are good, but we made them look good.
And that was it. Muted applause from the players, led by Peacock, for those travelling fans who hadn't already boarded the bus and a prayer from those left that things would be better against not-so-competent opponents.