Dale Unlucky as Bees Buzz into Second Round of Cup

Rochdale 0 - 1 Brentford

Rochdale lost their FA Cup first round match at home to Brentford despite turning in a superior performance to those which saw them lose their last two league games. The Bees went ahead thanks to a first half penalty and despite Dale’s best efforts to force a replay in the second half, they held out and booked a place in the draw for the second round; A draw which Dale fans will be sorry they missed out on, a trip to Oldham would have been the reward if they overcome Chasetown in a replay.

By no means were Brentford the best team on the day, a draw would probably have been a fair result, but Rochdale squandered some decent chances and that always makes it difficult to win a game against a superior opposition, who defended well and played some nice one-touch football at times. Such build up play led to their first chance of the afternoon. Owusu’s neat touch found Tabb in space on the edge of the area and the small midfielder, who was a joy to watch all afternoon, crashed a shot square against the crossbar.

It was the home side who created the first clear cut opening; with their crossbar still vibrating at the other end, the Dale strikers exchanged passes before Rickie Lambert put Gary Jones through after the captain had made an excellent direct run from midfield. Jones looked to have the better of the two defenders who chased him towards goal but they did enough to put him off as he fired a weak effort at Nelson with the goal gaping.

The half was mostly played out in the midfield, with Tabb looking to orchestrate proceedings with his neat touches but his striking colleagues were seemingly not so attack minded and chances were few and far between. However, they looked certain to take the lead on twenty-one minutes when Rankin burst past defenders and was in on goal. With Gilks, along with the entire Spotland crowd, waiting for the shot, Alan Goodall arrived at the last minute with a superbly timed tackle that echoed that of Bobby Moore in the 1970 World Cup. Whether playing at left back, as he did in the first half, or attacking from midfield, as he did in the second, Goodall has been Rochdale’s best player of recent weeks and this was in evidence again against Brentford, and he is beginning to equal even the great Grant Holt, who again huffed and puffed without blowing the house down, in terms of potential.

Rochdale struggled to maintain any real presence in the midfield and as such they struggled to find a telling ball for the strikers to prey on. With neither keeper being particularly troubled throughout, the game looked to be going into a half-time stalemate, but Brentford took the lead just before the half had chance to run out of time. Paul Brooker advanced into the Rochdale area from the right and forced a tackle from Goodall before nicking the ball past the Rochdale left-back and taking a tumble. It looked a clear penalty and the referee obliged by pointing straight to the spot. Kevin O’Connor scored the spot-kick despite Gilks’ best efforts in diving the right way.

Brentford gained in confidence after the break following their perhaps fortunate goal just before half-time. Again Tabb stood out as the best player on the Spotland turf and he again dictated things in the middle of the park, with Gary Jones and Ernie Cooksey both struggling to combat the mercurial midfielder’s pace and trickery. He earned them a corner with seven minutes of the half played and that resulted in the ball finding the back of the Rochdale goal. The referee, who was much improved on the official that took charge of last week’s game against Lincoln, ruled the goal out for pushing at the Dale keeper. The incident in question was not particularly clear but it is one that always seems to be given in the goalkeeper’s favour in the modern game so Brentford remained just one goal to the good.

Owusu had Brentford’s next chance to double their lead but his effort was blocked by McArdle who showed a mature head and had a solid game against strikers that ply their trade higher up the league ladder. McArdle showed much more conviction than in last weekend’s defeat and it was this as much as anything that protected Gilks who seldom had a save to make. However, although their defence was solid, Rochdale had a most unlikely problem at the other end in not being able to find the net. Holt went through after a diagonal ball from the right hand side, but his attempted lob over the advancing Nelson went some distance wide of the mark; it was a difficult chance but Dale fans could be forgiven for expecting Holt to score, such is his usual prowess in such situations.

Rochdale were clearly on top by this stage and they lay siege against a well-equipped backline. The best move of the game by the home side showed some passing football that has not been seen at Spotland for some weeks and it nearly led to the equaliser. Holt beat a man on the by-line and squared the ball for Cooksey but Nelson was equal to the shot, although Cooksey should have made him work harder for the save.

Alan Goodall, by now foraying forward as a left winger, was next to avoid the back of the Brentford net despite his best efforts to get the equaliser. Jones attacked with the ball and unleashed Goodall who made a run clear on goal. He did everything right with the shot, firing the ball across the keeper but somehow it went wide of the far post. Rochdale went even closer to finding the target 5 minutes from time as substitute Paul Tait rose above the defenders to send a sailing header towards the top corner. The ball crept through the air towards goal and the keeper was clearly beaten, only for a defender to head the ball away on the line.

The final whistle blew minutes later and Rochdale, much to their dismay and misfortunate, did not find themselves at least having to travel to Griffin Park to replay the game. Brentford go through but Rochdale can take great heart from their display against superior opposition and if they can perform to this level consistently for the remainder of the campaign, something with which they have struggled thus far, they may find themselves playing Brentford again, much sooner than expected.