Tale of Missed Chances Between League Two Strugglers

Rochdale 1 - 1 Barnet

Barnet travelled to Spotland in desperate need of points in their bid to avoid relegation and they gained one after a decent display, whilst the home side failed to take advantage of some good chances to secure a successive home win. Barnet looked far from a struggling outfit in the opening stages and Rochdale took the lead against the run of the play midway through the first half. It lasted only five minutes as a penalty gifted the Bees an equaliser before second half chances for all three points were squandered by both sides.

Barnet started the game well and had a good chance to open the scoring with just two minutes played. Matt Gilks had to be more alert than his absent defence in tipping Nicky Bailey’s shot past the post. The Dale defence still had not turned up by the fifth minute as Liam Hatch found himself free in the box but he was adjudged to have handled the ball before tapping into the goal.

Rochdale created little in the opening exchanges and they were limited to long range attempts, the closest of which came the way of Gary Jones who fired just wide of the upright after Lambert’s touch found Jones on the edge of the box.

Following the early excitement the game settled into a scrappy affair and this was highlighted by Rochdale’s opener on twenty-three minutes. A corner dropped to Scott Warner who miss-struck his shot into the path of Ernie Cooksey who fired at goal only for Adam Goss to block the effort on the line but Chris Dagnall was on hand to force the ball over the line.

When Mark Jackson was forced to leave the pitch to get stitches for a cut to the face it spelled disaster for the Dale defence as they conceded immediately. Tresor Kandol got the wrong side of Simon Ramsden following a long ball over the top and he drew a clumsy looking Griffiths tackle which the striker duly managed to fall over. Ian Hendon comfortably dispatched the resulting penalty.

Rochdale created a great chance to restore their lead just before the break as Rickie Lambert’s dazzling footwork enabled him to beat three defenders before hitting a cross-come-shot across goal which just evading the despairing dives of Ernie Cooksey and Gary Jones.

The home side continued where they left off in the second half but again the lack of an end product foiled some excellent build up play. Chris Dagnall had a good half, keeping Flitney on his toes in the Barnet goal with a couple of sharp shots, but his team mates were kept at bay thanks to some stout defending and when chances were created the Dale men did not seem to have their shooting boots on; Cooksey and Jones both failing to trouble Flitney seriously with low strikes from the edge of the box.

With Dale failing to make the most of their possession they almost paid the ultimate price as Barnet ended the stronger of the two sides. Kandol again caused problems as he got the better of Jackson but Griffiths was on hand to clear before the Barnet striker could fire at goal. Barnet continued to press and Dean Sinclair missed a glorious opportunity to secure the three points for his side. A deep cross found the midfielder in space but he blazed his volley over the bar, resulting in jeers from the home fans behind the goal.

Substitute Blair Sturrock had the last chance of the game for Rochdale but again Flitney was not tested following Alan Goodall excellent cross across goal as Sturrock could only hit a tame shot into the arms of the grateful Barnet keeper. Both sides failed to take advantage of some good second half chances so in the end a point each was probably a fair result but Rochdale fans would have hoped for better from a home game against a struggling Barnet side, they will probably take heart from the fact that disappointing season only has three games left to run.