Rochdale 1 - 0 Braintree Town

Date published: 02 October 2024

Dale made it back-to-back wins with a 1-0 victory over Braintree Town at the Crown Oil Arena on Saturday 28 September.

Kairo Mitchell scored in his seventh consecutive game early on, which proved to be the only goal of the match.

The only change from Tuesday night’s starting line-up saw Jake Burger come in for Harvey Gilmour, who had picked up an injury at Hartlepool United. New signing Liam Hogan was on the substitute’s bench.

It took Dale less than eight minutes to open the scoring, with Mitchell netting his ninth in seven games. After some patient play, Connor McBride found space and played a through ball inside the full-back for Tobi Abdeayo-Rowling to run onto. He fizzed a low ball across and found Mitchell, who turned home six yards out.

The visitors responded by sending a couple of efforts narrowly off target, through Jamal Fyfield’s flicked header and Callum Powell’s shot from just inside the area.

Finley Wilkinson and Marley Marshall-Miranda also fired off target, whilst Kyle Ferguson and Sam Beckwith saw headers from Dale corners fly just over.

Rodney had a shot well blocked just before the break, whilst the hosts had their best chances just half-time.

Marley Marshall-Miranda dispossessed Burger on the edge of the area but was denied by Luke McNicholas rushing out at his feet. The goalkeeper made a second save moments later, getting a great fist to Wilkinson’s well-struck follow-up.

McBride had a shot deflected off target, whilst substitute Ian Henderson sent a looping effort from the edge of the area onto the roof of the crossbar.

The second half lacked clear-cut chances for either side as Dale showed steely grit to prevent the visitors carving out an equaliser.

Ryan East had a shot deflected into the side netting with the final real action of the game, as Jimmy McNulty’s men made it back-to-back wins.