Own goal enough to give Rochdale win

Own goal enough to give Rochdale win

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Rochdale 1 (Foster o.g 59)
Dagenham amp; Redbridge 0

An own goal midway through the second half was enough to give Rochdale victory over newly promoted Dagenham amp; Redbridge. A dull game failed to ever really kick into gear, although the second half introduction of Adam Le Fondre and Kallum Higginbotham gave Rochdale some impetus and Danny Foster headed into his own net not long after.

The quality of the first half can be summed up by the fact that there was only one attempt on goal in its entirety. As the half drew to a close, Richard Graham hit a low shot with little power that Rochdale goalkeeper James Spencer was able to gather comfortably.

Rochdale dominated possession but their crosses and passes in the final third were poor, leaving Dagenham keeper Tony Roberts with little to do. Gary Jones provided the perfect example of Rochdale’s good build up but poor final ball when he broke clear down the left but then failed to find Glenn Murray with a simple pass that would have given the Dale striker a goal scoring opportunity.

Although Dagenham created little of their own, they did have a goal ruled out. The referee blew for a fowl against them after their free kick had been whipped into the box and fallen for Glen Southam to fire into the net.

Dagenham continued to frustrate the home side at the start of the second half thanks to some solid defending by, amongst others, former Rochdale centre half Jon Boardman. This prompted Dale manager Hill to make the double substitution on 53 minutes and 6 minutes later his side took the lead.

Adam Rundle brought the ball back from the by-line on the left wing onto his right foot and whipped in a dangerous cross that Foster could only head firmly beyond his own goalkeeper and into the net.

Earlier in the half Rochdale had made their first attempt on goal, when Murray took the ball wide inside the box and blazed over the crossbar from a tight angle. The best chance however, went to the visitors when a mix-up between Rory McArdle and Spencer allowed Paul Benson to steal in between goalkeeper and defender but the striker stabbed the ball wide.

Dagenham had other chances to earn a point from their long trip to the North-west. Benson again could not find the target from a decent chance when he fired wide from a near-post corner. Benson made it a hat-trick of spurned opportunities when he could not apply the finishing touch to Sam Sloma’s low cross after the wing-back had run almost the full length of the left touchline to create the opening.

Rochdale almost made sure of the victory when Murray latched onto to Le Fondre’s flick but the Dale forward fired inches past the post from the left hand edge of the penalty area but in the end one goal was enough for the win. Meanwhile, a David Perkins shot during injury time that was comfortably saved by Roberts was worth noting because it was Rochdale’s one and only attempt on target in the whole of the game.

Keith Hill said of his side’s hard-fought victory: “At the end of the season we will count the points not the performances and we have performed better and lost or drawn games this season.

“I’m impatient and want to play like Arsenal or Manchester United every match day but we are not always going to get that. We will take the three points however they come but we do want to win playing in the right manner.”

The win lifts Rochdale to 13th in the League Two table ahead of Tuesday night’s game with Stockport at Spotland. Rochdale will be sweating on the fitness of Marcus Holness and Adam Rundle for the fixture. Holness was forced off during the second half, while Rundle hobbled his way through the closing stages with Dale already having made all three substitutes.

Hill continued: “I couldn’t tell with regards the injuries at this stage but we will get 11 on the pitch and try to perform with no fear and a desire to win the game.”

Attendance: 2,278

Rochdale: Spencer, Lomax, Holness (Atkinson 69), McArdle, Kennedy, Muirhead (Higginbotham 53), Jones, Perkins, Rundle, Murray, Taylor (Le Fondre 53).
Subs not used: Russell, Prendergast.

Booked: Holness

Dag amp; Red: Roberts, Foster, Boardman, Smith, Griffiths, Graham (Green 79), Rainford (Huke 76), Southam, Sloma (Uddin 73), Strevens, Benson.
Subs not used: Thompson, Taylor.

Attempts (on target): Rochdale 4 (1) Dag amp; Red 6 (2)
Freekicks: Rochdale 17 Dag amp; Red 14
Offside: Rochdale 0 Dag amp; Red 3
Corners: Rochdale 4 Dag amp; Red 8

Referee: D Foster.

Match photographs to follow.