Tait Shines but to no avail as Dale lose in LDV Clash

Tranmere Rovers 3 - 2 Rochdale

Rochdale fans visiting Prenton Park for Rochdale’s LDV Vans Trophy Second Round tie with Tranmere were treated to a surprise that warmed their hearts in the Wirral cold; an inspired performance by out of favour frontman Paul Tait. Tait scored both of Rochdale’s goals in what was an unfortunate 3-2 reverse at the hands of an at times lacklustre Tranmere outfit. The tall striker finally showed Rochdale fans what he was capable of after his consistent failures in finding the net last season has resulted in him being him phased out of the starting line-up this term; this was his first start of the campaign.

Tait’s performance in a brave Rochdale display will give Rochdale manager, Steve Parkin an enjoyable headache ahead of Shrewsbury’s visit to Spotland on Saturday; all four of his strikers seem now to be finding the net. Added to Tait’s goals in his unexpected outing at Prenton Park, Rickie Lambert scored the vital equaliser against Chester on Saturday, Blair Sturrock as two out of two in the league, whilst Grant Holt is, of course, the division’s top scorer.

Holt was left out of the squad for this encounter; rested in the hope that he fully recovers from his neck injury in time for Saturday’s important league fixture. Indeed Steve Parkin rung the changes as he looked at some of the players that will be needed over the busy upcoming schedule; to some it may have been disappointing to see an almost second eleven sent out for a game that was clearly winnable against a side, although plying their trade a league above the visitors, struggling for home form. Others, however, will look to the positives and will be optimistic that players such as Tait will be able to do a job when called upon and secure some vital points in the Christmas run; after this performance Tait’s call may come sooner rather than later.

The debate runs strongly between fans at this stage of the LDV competition, with a busy league schedule ahead, how seriously should players, fans and managers be taking such a tournament? For some the LDV is a distraction, good or bad, whilst others treat it as a realistic chance of glory and is as important as the league campaign. Whatever the attitude was in the build up to this game by both manager and fans, the team that took the field certainly tried its hardest to see Rochdale into the hat for the next round and with a bit more luck that may well have been the case.

Within five minutes however that certainly did not look to be the case. The first meaningful attack of the game rendered a goal for the home side and it looked as though the evening might be spent as an exercise in damage limitation. The impressively robust and quick form of Delroy Facey picked up the ball on the right edge of the area and squeezed between two defenders, beating Griffiths last ditch challenge with ease before firing at Gilks, who might have done better, despite the pace of the shot, than to palm it into the roof of the goal.

However, immediately after the goal it became evident that Rochdale were going to make a game of it and they quickly restored the equilibrium. Rickie Lambert was instrumental in the goal, taking full advantage of Ian Goodison’s slip as he tried to shield the ball out for a goal kick. Lambert pulled the ball back for Tait who finished calmly, putting the ball beyond Achterberg into the opposite corner.

Rochdale began to get the better of the play with the battling presence of Briscoe, Jones and Warner in the midfield instrumental in their spell of pressure after the equaliser, although Greenacre and Facey up-front for Tranmere were proving to be a constant handful for Griffiths and Boardman. However, it was the visitors who created the best chances of the half; Sturrock beat the offside trap to scamper free down the right but he took too long to either shoot or cross with Lambert practically begging to be put through on the opposite side. Sturrock later succeeded in finding Lambert but he placed his side-footed volley wide with Achterberg a helpless bystander in the Rovers goal.

On forty minutes, Rochdale deservedly took the lead as Tait bagged his second. Rovers’ backline was looking shaky after the equaliser and eventually it succumbed to concede as they failed to clear the ball and succeeded only in finding Tait on the edge of the box whose shot entered the goal by way of a substantial deflection off the shin of a Tranmere defender.

The second half began equally but as the time increased so did Tranmere’s threat of an equaliser as Rochdale’s goal threat seemed to unexplainably decrease as they sat back in hope of defending their lead; perhaps not the wisest idea given their defensive record and the quality of the Tranmere attack. Their manager, Brian Little took full advantage of the situation by introducing Chris Dagnall and matching the formation of the Rochdale line-up by going 4-3-3. How they did not level the game on the hour was matter of disbelief. Greenacre got to the by-line and fired a low cross across the six-yard box, only for Goodison, with the goal looming directly in front of him, to practically pass the ball to the grateful Gilks.

However, the miss did not affect the balance of play and the home side drew level minutes later and again it was with considerable as Tranmere passed their through the Rochdale defence and the ball ended up at the feet of Harrison and scored despite Gilks again getting a hand to the ball, although he could not be expected to save at such close quarters.

Tranmere now had their tails up and Rochdale struggled to combat their forward play. Indeed Alan Goodall took the idea of combat too literally as Tranmere took the lead. Minutes after Goodall himself had flashed a header just wide of the post from a corner at the opposite end, he brought down Facey in the area after being fooled by the striker’s trickery to concede a clear penalty. Greenacre hammered the spot kick straight down the middle to put the home side in the box seat.

With the chips again down Rochdale went in search of an equaliser that, as their resulting opportunities suggested, they were more than capable of getting. A final moment of magic from Tait had the crowd, as well as the Tranmere centre half, mesmerized as his awesome flicked turn completely did for the defender. His shot did not result in the goal his turn deserved however as he fired too close to Achterberg, who did well to push the ball past the post.

From that moment on no-one will know how Rochdale somehow managed not to find the equaliser. Achterberg was a helpless spectator on the three occasions as two scrambles following crosses into the area resulted in three separate clearances off the line; Boardman and Sturrock both couldn’t believe their luck as defenders arrived from nowhere to block their attempts from within the six yard box. Tranmere somehow survived the tirade to the final whistle and they go through to the next round with Rochdale out of the competition despite a spirited and threatening display which will hopefully now be rewarded with some similar performances in the league. It is up to the manager as to whether he rewards these players with some more first team action, whilst some fans will be more disappointed than others that Dale are out of the LDV and must now turn their full attention to the league campaign, the importance of the league is at least something which everyone can agree on.