Brentford 1 (Bowditch 50) Rochdale 2 (McArdle 31, Buckley 40) – Full Time Report

Photo: Jon Coluccio

Lee Thorpe wins a header.

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Rochdale recorded a fourth successive victory with a win at Brentford. Dale led by two goals at half time thanks to a headed finish from Rory McArdle and a sublime one from Will Buckley.

They were made to work hard for the win as Brentford hit back with a much more spirited second half display and were back in it when Dean Bowditch found the net.

The home side looked to kick on from there but the fans had little else to shout about as Sam Russell was never really tested in the Dale goal.

In the first half Brentford offered very little going forward and it was all too easy for Dale to carve out their lead. As the half wore on the visitors looked far more likely to extend their lead than Brentford were to reduce it.

Keith Hill said after the game that the conditions had not helped proceedings but he was delighted his side were able to battle through for the win.

“They were bad conditions but we used them to our advantage to get the two goals and I think it should have been three before half time.

“The crowd got behind them in the second half and it was pressure football from them but there were not many chances.”

Hill made one change to the side which came from behind to win at Notts County in midweek.

Winger Buckley was influential in both of Dale’s goals at Meadow Lane and he came into the team in place of Joe Thompson.

Brentford had the first attempt in a very stop-start opening period. It fell to former Dale loan man Glenn Poole as the visitors were only able to half clear Sam Wood’s centre. Poole collected on the edge of the box but dragged his well struck shot wide.

Dale hit back with a chance of their own as Lee Thorpe nodded the ball on for Chris Dagnall. The striker’s low shot was spilled by Ben Hamer and Buckley came close to gathering the seconds for a simple finish but Hamer was able to recover.

The game was scrappy, not helped by the high wind and torrential rain at Griffin Park.

Dale made good use of Thorpe as they looked to get the ball down and build from his knock downs. It allowed the visitors to carve out another chance as Buckley collected a Thorpe knock to burst through the Brentford defences but his shot from the edge of the box was over the top.

Although the game was far from end to end, its few chances were as the Bees were next to try the luck after Charlie MacDonald got the better of a challenge with Rory McArdle and earned the space to shoot but the finish was weak and straight at Sam Russell.

The theory was again proved when Dale took the lead through Rory McArdle. Buckley won a corner and from Tom Kennedy’s set piece McArdle rose above Alan Bennett to head home.

Without breaking sweat Dale found themselves two goals to the good. This time it was route one stuff that gave them the goal as a long ball bounced over the head of Kevin O’Connor. Buckley latched on and got the better of O’Connor before rifling a superb finish beyond Hamer into the far corner from a tight angle.

The home side clearly got a rocket from their manager at half time and it worked. Brentford were back in the game when Poole made tracks down the left hand edge of the Dale box and cut back an excellent cross that evaded Tom Kennedy and landed perfectly on the head of Dean Bowditch, who could not miss.

Dale could not get a kick in the opening ten minutes of the half but slowly they re-settled. A couple of corners brought some respite, with McArdle and Thorpe both heading wide, but Dale were not able to get the ball down as they had in the first half.

Brentford’s pressure grew but there was not much to test Russell aside from a mishit Mark Phillips cross which sailed towards the top corner before the Dale keeper intervened to tip it round his post.

The remainder played out with little incident as Brentford could not really apply the final pressure that they would have been hoping for.

Brentford: Hamer, O’Connor, Bean, Bennett, Newton (Phillips 45), MacDonald, Poole, Bowditch, Wilson, Wood (Dickson 45), Williams.
Subs (not used): Brown, Pead, Halls.

Booked: Poole.

Rochdale: Russell, Wiseman, Kennedy, Stanton, McArdle, Buckley (Thompson 90), Jones, Toner, Rundle, Thorpe, Dagnall (Le Fondre 62).
Subs (not used): Spencer, Keltie, Holness.

Attempts (on target): Brentford 8 (2) Rochdale 9 (3)
Free kicks: Brentford 17 Rochdale 14
Offside: Brentford 6 Rochdale 4
Corners: Brentford 7 Rochdale 5

Referee: G Hegley.