MK Dons lesson in the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

Ecstatic: Chris Dagnall celebrates his injury time winner

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Rochdale 3 (Dagnall 27, 90 Le Fondre 90)
M K Dons 2 (Gallen 16, 28)

It was very much a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show for Rochdale following their midweek display against Norwich but inexplicably, after being dominated for ninety minutes, they escaped with victory with two injury time goals to come from a goal behind and snatch victory from M K Dons, who must have thought that the three points were already locked comfortably into the boot of their team bus.

Rochdale were awful. Keith Hill said as much after the game, choosing, rightly, to speak about the concerns raised by another poor performance during his post-match interview: he could not talk about the win, earned in injury time – that was beyond words.

Milton Keynes only had themselves to blame in the naivety of their defeat; they thought they had won it, Rochdale were playing like their opponents had won it, the visitors’ defenders must have thought they had won it, leaving only two of them back when M K Dons attacked in injury time while still ahead, their strikers should have made sure they won it, squandering second half chances, both sets of fans must have thought it was game over, the M K Dons fans singing and cheering, the Dale fans heading for the exits.

Then, in two frantic minutes, the game was turned on its head and the visitors - fans, officials, players, manager and all, were left absolutely shell shocked.

Rochdale were bad enough for reporters to prepare their opening gambits based on the fact that M K Dons will not claim many easier away victories this season. Those of a Rochdale persuasion would have been left to reflect on a fourth poor league performance out of four and their side would be propping up the rest of the teams in the League Two table.

But injury time left those reporters reaching for the tip-ex, their accurate analysis now redundant; hold the headlines, Rochdale had won in it. The Dale fans were too busy going absolutely ballistic to figure out just exactly how on earth their team had done it and even now they will know that it was completely beyond comprehension.

The Dons were knocking the ball around happily, soaking up their imminent win, running smoothly towards the final whistle, even creating the odd chance that if taken would have sealed the victory but even when Mark Wright’s shot from just six yards was scuffed for Simon Ramsden to clear off the line after James Spencer had saved well from Leon Knight, by no means did it set any alarm bells ringing; so it might finish 2-1 instead of three, a win was win.

In fairness Rochdale had shown the odd sign of something that at least resembled competent attacking football in the last ten minutes, more than they had managed in the other eighty, but there was nothing to test Willie Gueret in the Dons goal. Helped by the introduction of Rory Prendergast and Adam Le Fondre and the withdrawal of Colin Cameron for the visitors who had dominated the midfield throughout, they began to show signs that M K Dons might have made a mistake in sitting back on their lead, and even time wasting, when it looked as though they could have carved Dale open at will to seal the win if they could only have been bothered.

Still, no-one would have cared much. Dons manager Paul Ince might have mentioned it to his men after the match, “great win lads but let’s just make sure we kill these games off in future.” Ince probably had already prepared something along those lines to say to his players, with the fourth official having held his board aloft showing the added time, when Rochdale broke away and scored their second unmerited equaliser of the game; in the first half Chris Dagnall hit a wonder strike from twenty yards into the far corner. The Dons had taken the lead when Kevin Gallen nodded in Lloyd Dyer’s pinpoint cross with ease.

On this first occasion the Dale equaliser was not met with panic from the visitors, they simply strolled up the other end and within two minutes they had re-taken the lead, Allen grabbing his second when again he could not fail to score, this time Wright’s pull back was converted.

Panic certainly resulted from Rochdale’s second equaliser; this one arrived at a much more crucial time. Astonishingly M K Dons only had two men back and Le Fondre needed no second invitation to cut inside one of them and hit a curling shot. Gueret saved it, diving to his left and getting a full palm on the ball, but it was not enough and the ball bounced into the net. Ince knew as well as anyone that his keeper should have kept it out; "I think we all know that he should have saved that", said the Dons boss.

Tails up, Rochdale went for the throat of their wound-licking opponents. The Dons tried to make amends for putting a point in Rochdale's lap by attacking in an attempt to put things right and by doing that they achieved the unachievable by throwing everything away. Dale broke again for the final drama; Prendergast whipped in a superb cross, Le Fondre got in front of his man but his shot hit the bar, only for Chris Dagnall to arrive at the back post and nod home, sending Spotland into delirium.

Man-of-the-match – Chris Dagnall – Caught in the emotion, many would award Dagnall the man-of-the-match just for the winner but the truth is he deserved it anyway. A superb first goal and he was one of few Dale players that offered any concern to M K Dons.

Attendance: 2743

Rochdale: Spencer, Ramsden, McArdle, Branston, Kennedy, Muirhead (Higginbotham 70), Doolan, Perkins, Rundle (Prendergast 53), Murray (Le Fondre 54), Dagnall.
Subs not used: Russell, Crooks.

Booked: Doolan, Branston, Kennedy.

Milton Keynes Dons: Gueret, Stirling, Swailes, O’Hanlon, Lewington, Wright, Andrews, Cameron (Navarro 79), Dyer, Knight (Johnson 76), Gallen.
Subs not used: Diallo, Edds, Abbey.

Booked: Swailes, Lewington.

Attempts (on target): Rochdale 6 (4) M K Dons 12 (7)
Freekicks: Rochdale 12 M K Dons 23
Offside: Rochdale 7 M K Dons 1
Corners: Rochdale 1 M K Dons 5

Referee: A Bates.