Rochdale 2 - 1 Sutton United

Date published: 11 November 2024

Dale left it late against Sutton with a 93rd minute strike to gain all three points at the Crown Oil Arena on Saturday 9 November.

Ryan East’s first-half header for his second of the campaign looked to have set Dale on their way, with an equaliser pegging Dale back before Devante Rodney came off the bench to fire home and give Dale the victory.

Jimmy McNulty made three alterations to last weekend’s FA Cup game at home to Bromley with Luke McNicholas and Tobi Adebayo-Rowling making their way back from injury and into the starting lineup. Aaron Henry also returned to start.

Dale began brightly and looked to attack down the left flank with Jili Buyabu providing the threat. The Sheffield United loanee directed a cross goalwards which Jack Sims had to get hands on to palm wide.

The general run of play came the way of Dale as they managed to grab the lead 22 minutes in. It was fantastic build up play, working the ball left to right and eventually finding Adebayo-Rowling on the byline who dug his cross out to find Ryan East to stoop his header into the back of the net.

Henry then went for goal on the edge of the area just before the half hour mark, his strike well closed down by the Sutton backline.

Straight up the other end, Sutton got their equaliser. A through ball found Will Davies in behind, the forward was closed down by McNicholas making a great save, however Eduino Vaz was there to convert the rebound.

The visitors grew in confidence and that showed when Siju Odelusi fired one at goal, the effort well pushed wide of the goal by McNicholas.

Around the 40 minute mark, Dale created a couple of decent opportunities. Firstly, Tarryn Allarakhia teed up Matthew Dennis who tried his luck but it was well blocked before Henry’s dangerous corner was flicked on at the near post by Liam Hogan which drifted wide of the far post.

Four minutes into additional time, Dennis’ eyes lit up when a lack of communication in the Sutton defence saw the MK Dons loanee get in behind but he was unable to beat Sims with his left-footed shot.

The second-half had a stop-start nature to it with stoppages including a lengthy one for Sutton's Jayden Harris who had to be stretchered off.

Dale got themselves in behind 20 minutes from time when Connor McBride fizzed one across the box which evaded everyone, the eventual attempted clearance coming off Allarakhia and out of play.

Devante Rodney made his return from injury, coming on in the 64th minute. He found space down the left and tried to slide it through to Ian Henderson, the forward unable to stab it home in front of the goalkeeper.

Sutton created a rare opportunity when goalscorer Vaz played a ball through to Davies, who was denied brilliantly by McNicholas who made a one-on-one save.

Dale could have taken a late lead when Allarakhia set up Jake Burger just inside the box but his attempt flew narrowly over the crossbar.

And three minutes into added time, Dale got the deserved winner. Allarakhia reacted well to a defensive mix up, picking out Rodney, who took a touch and fired home, leaving Sims with no chance for his sixth goal of the season.

The away side did give Dale a scare when Josh Coley found an area to shoot, the deflected shot dribbling only just wide as Dale took all three points.