Rochdale 3 - 0 Tamworth

Date published: 19 December 2024

Dale returned to winning ways in the National League, overcoming Tamworth by three goals to nil on Tuesday 17 December.

A first of the campaign for Harvey Gilmour along with strikes from Kyron Gordon and Devante Rodney got the job done after the visitors were reduced to ten men in the second half.

Jimmy McNulty opted for three changes to Saturday’s team with Tarryn Allarakhia, Aidan Barlow and Jid Okeke in to start for Dale.

Dale started the game on the front foot with Okeke and Rodney combining well down the right-hand side, the latter’s ball in slid wide for a corner moments before the ball broke for Okeke who’s shot was blocked, the rebound put over by Harvey Gilmour.

Tarryn Allarakhia stayed persistent, winning a corner for Dale which was just delivered onto the head of Kairo Mitchell, narrowly over.

Dale had a brief counter attack to deal with from the visitors however, Ben Crompton’s lofted effort was saved calmly by Sam Waller. 

Tamworth went on to gain a bit of momentum, a corner was cleared before two resulting efforts from outside the box were blocked comfortably.

26 minutes on the clock, Aidan Barlow spun nicely and went for goal, dealt with well by Jas Singh down to his left.

Kairo Mitchell was next to have an effort when he placed his header slightly wide at the back post with Rodney steering an effort wide before the interval.

Dale started the second half well with Ryan East having a good effort saved within ten minutes of the second period.

Then, an altercation occurred between Aidan Barlow and Jordan Cullinane-Liburd resulting in the Tamworth player recieving a straight red card with just over an hour gone.

From here the game became all Dale, although Tamworth had a free kick in the Dale half against the run of play, which was smashed at the Dale bar from range by Tom Tonks.

Dale regained control and took advantage of the extra man, applying pressure and eventually in the 73rd minute Dale got the breakthrough from a corner, courtesy of Harvey Gilmour at the back post after Allarakhia’s delivery.

It was then from another set-piece this time from the that Dale found their second. A short corner played to Okeke who then found the captain Gordon who slotted it in the net with his left foot from outside the area. 

Shortly afterwards, Ryan East had a curling effort denied by the Tamworth keeper. However this did not deter Dale as in the 87th minute, neat intricate play saw Okeke race down the right hand side, put the ball into the box and supply for Devante Rodney who tapped home from close range to secure a three goal buffer and all three points.