Free-Scoring Rochdale Shoot Themselves into Second

Football

Rochdale 4 - 1 Torquay United

Rochdale hit four past league two strugglers Torquay to become the side with the most goals scored in the division. Despite never hitting top gear and with Torquay causing the home defence problems, Rochdale eventually ran out comfortable winners with a second half sending off for the away side having a major impact on the outcome. A slow paced game in the midday heat contained some excellent goals but it was the result rather than the performance that gave Dale fans most to cheer about.

After seeing his midfield over-run in the bank holiday fixture at Darlington, Steve Parkin hoped to see more physical presence in the middle in of the park so Neil Brisco made his first start since his sending off against Cheltenham, coming into the side in place of Tommy Jaszczun. The Rochdale manager stuck with the 4-3-3 formation which saw the team pick up their first home win last weekend.

The game began with chances created by both sides in the opening exchanges. Having not scoring a goal away from home all season, and still looking for their first win of the campaign, Torquay were looking to change those statistics and take the game to the home side. They created their first opening on two minutes when a Jo Kuffour shot was deflected for a corner, with the visitors playing some good passing football to make the chance.

Rochdale soon began to get into the game and had their crossing been up to scratch they could have taken the lead. Two Grant Holt square balls were dealt with by the Gulls defence before finding their attempted targets, Blair Sturrock coming closest to a goal but Matt Villis cleared before the striker could make contact.

Minutes later and Rochdale found themselves in the lead after winning a free-kick on the edge of the box. There was only going to be one man to take the set-play, and true to form Rickie Lambert stepped up and dispatched the ball to keeper Marriot’s left and into the Torquay goal.

However, the lead lasted just three minutes as Torquay scored their first away goal from their next attack and it came in some style, but a static defence seemed to aid their efforts. Dale players were twice slow to react to the ball in the box and it dropped invitingly to Alan Connell who fired a volley past Gilks on the turn. It was the least the travelling fans deserved, many of them having set off at 5am to be at Spotland for the noon kick-off.

The goal gave the away side the confidence they needed and they created more chances with some dangerous attacking play, Jo Kuffour being the stand-out player with his pace and trickery. With Torquay taking the game to the home side the next goal came against the run of play, but what a goal it was to put Rochdale 2-1 in front.

Torquay cleared the ball to the edge of the area following a cross where the waiting Scott Warner, with little time available, struck an excellent shot to become an unlikely goal scorer. The ball flew past the despairing Marriot and into the top corner of the net to give Dale the lead once more. With just twenty minutes played there had been three goals in a short space of time and all of excellent quality.

Rickie Lambert nearly managed a goal to put all of the others to shame on the half hour mark. He controlled the ball well on the right hand side of the Torquay area and chipped it over the head of a Gulls defender before volleying past Marriott only to be denied when the ball shaved the woodwork and went over. It was an attempt reminiscent of Paul Gascoigne’s Euro ’96 goal against Scotland. If Dale were going to extend their lead before half time it seemed that it would be Lambert who would get the goal. His next attempt was fired just wide with some fans behind the goal already out of their seats in the belief that Lambert had hit the target from outside the area.

Torquay were not yet prepared to lie down and succumb to another defeat and continued to create openings for the remainder of the half, with striker Leon Constantine causing problems. His cross failed to reach Torquay players thanks to a headed Boardman clearance and a later shot during added time missed the target to leave Dale 2-1 up at the interval but with the game far from over.

Indeed, the away side seemed to be the only one to have left the dressing room for the second half and they could easily have equalised within minutes of the restart. Connell almost scored his second when the ball was crossed to him on the penalty spot and he powered a header at goal only for Gilks, diving full length, to tip the ball over the cross-bar. From the resulting corner another free-header ensued and this time it was only an Alan Goodall goal-line clearance that prevented the visitors from adding to their tally.

Rochdale were still struggling to get going but yet again they scored when it was the visitors who were having the better of the play and disaster struck for the Gulls as they had a man sent-off in the build-up to Rochdale’s third. The ball was cleared up to Grant Holt following another Torquay attack and his turn on the half-way line was enough to beat Matt Hockley, who then slipped when chasing down the Rochdale forward. Holt used the space available to him and charged towards goal and eventually came face to face with Marriott who seemed to be unlucky when he didn’t make enough contact with the ball and it fell to Holt once more.

With only a defender on the line for company Holt pulled the trigger but the ball struck Craig Taylor’s arm rather than finding the net, and the referee pointed straight to the spot. The action was not over as the man in charge called Taylor over and duly sent him off after judging his hand-ball to be an attempt to deliberately deny a goal scoring opportunity. The Torquay player was slow to leave the field and he could argue that the ball hit his arm rather than purposefully using his hand to save the ball. Once Taylor had walked it was left to Holt to send Marriott the wrong way and score his second penalty in as many games.

It seemed to be a case of how many goals Dale could muster as Torquay heads hit the floor after their attacking efforts had met with little luck and the game was clearly now beyond their grasp. The home side added one more to their tally and Lambert notched a deserved second score. The attack came down the left following good work from Alan Goodall and Ernie Cooksey after Sturrock had robbed Sako of possession. With Torquay players out of position the ball was squared to the un-marked Lambert at the back post and he was left to pass the ball to a virtually empty goal after Marriott was taken out of the game by the cross.

Steve Parkin now rung the changes for the home side, knowing that the game was safely in the bag youngsters Gary Brown and exciting striker Clive Moyo-Modise looked to gain some senior experience as they were substituted in place of Brisco and Holt respectively. The game regained its spark following a slow period as the young players looked to show Parkin what they could do. Indeed, Moyo-Modise’s first touch nearly brought him a first goal when Lambert found him at the back post. The substitute hit a spectacular volley but the ball flew wide.

The match was turning into a training ground affair with Gilks in the Rochdale goal left stood to watch the action at the other end. It became a case of Rickie Lambert versus the goalkeeper as the free-kick specialist searched for his hat-trick and a chance to join strike partner Holt on six goals for the season. He was thrice denied by Marriott in the closing stages, all from long range powerful drives but Marriott was equal to the task and the score remained the same.

Despite the 4-1 score line, Rochdale manager Steve Parkin was not particularly happy with his side’s performance, believing that on another day Torquay could have got something from the game. The south-coast side played some good football at times and once they get the ball rolling they should not face relegation come the season’s end. Meanwhile Rochdale travel to strugglers Boston next Saturday and the boss believes that changes to the team and an improved performance may be needed if his side are to take the points. With the Spotland outfit scoring goals galore at the moment, it is at the other end where the Rochdale boss is getting a slight headache and Gareth Griffiths could return to the defence that kept the most clean sheets last term having recovered from injury.