Rotherham United 2 (Le Fondre 43, Warne 61) Rochdale 1 (Dagnall 45) – Full Time Report

Photo: Jon Coluccio

Dagnall beats Warrington to the ball and slides in to make sure it crosses the line.

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Rochdale suffered a second successive defeat as they went down to Paul Warne's second half strike at Rotherham.

Warne scored on the hour and although Dale huffed and puffed for a leveller, they didn't quite do enough in front of goal to warrant a second equaliser.

Somewhat inevitably former Dale goalscoring ace Adam Le Fondre gave Rotherham the lead. The striker nodded home a free kick from six yards after Nathan Stanton put in a rash challenge on Paul Warne by the right touchline.

The lead lasted only a couple of minutes as Chris Dagnall was put completely in the clear inside the Rotherham box. His finish was weak, and it looked as though Andy Warrington had saved, but the ball bounced up off the keeper and headed slowly towards goal before Dagnall made sure with a sliding touch.

Attacking in a half of the pitch that was more akin to the African savanna, Rochdale found it difficult to string much together early on. The two-tone affect of the playing surface caused by the midweek U2 concert was more akin to the deteriorating wicket at the Oval than one fit for League Two football.

Rotherham, playing in the lusher half, had the better of the early chances. Tom Pope should have done better with two headers. The first, from a corner, was powered straight at Kenny Arthur, while the second, from a splendid Dale Tonge, was nodded wide on the stretch.

Slowly Dale came into proceedings and twice Andy Warrington's hands were stung. Will Buckley found space at the far post to collect Joe Thompson's low cross and turned his man to fire low at Warrington's near post, and then Chris Dagnall tested the keeper from range with a crisp drive.

The visitors continued to press and Buckley should have done better as Dale broke away in numbers. Dagnall linked up with debutant Chris O'Grady and the striker spread the ball for Buckley, who cut inside but fired a weak shot wide.

The game cruised towards half time goaless but sprung into life in the dying minutes. Buckley conceded possession to Warne on the halfway line and the wideman burst down the wing, only to be upended by Stanton's late tackle. The free kick was whipped in and Le Fondre stole between two Dale defenders to nod home.

It was a sucker punch for Dale, but the Rotherham back line completely switched off to allow an equaliser three minutes into injury time. With no defenders for company 12 yards out, Dagnall made hard work of finding the net by hitting his shot straight at Warrington, but the ball bounced slowly towards goal before Dagnall made a more convincing contact to put Dale level.

It was a quiet start to the second half but ten minutes in Le Fondre could have restored his side's lead. A high cross bounced down for Le Fondre but the striker couldn't get over the volley and blazed over.

At the other end Dagnall couldn't get a crisp enough touch on O'Grady's flick to force Warrington into anything more than a comfortable save.

With the game meandering, Rotherham took the lead. Dale defenders were slow to get a tackle in in the left fullback position and a low cross was prodded home by Warne, who had got in front of Stanton at the near post.

The visitors went in search of another leveller and came close when Gary Jones released O'Grady, who stung the hands of Warrington with an angled drive.

Dale were camped in the Millers half for the last ten minutes as Keith Hill brought on Scott Spencer to go three up front. The visitors had all of the ball, with the home side keeping eleven behind the ball, but it didn't look as though they would see anything meaningful in front of goal.

The fourth official indicated four minutes of injury time and that was a signal for Dale to give it one last push. O'Grady jinxed past Dale Tonge and fired in another shot that Warrington was forced to turn behind.

When Spencer was fouled on the edge of the box it was Dale's last chance. The ball was squared for Jones to strike it and it looped up into the Rotherham box. Dagnall tried an acrobatic volley but Warrington somehow prevented the ball from crossing the line and eventually it was hacked out.

Attendance: 3602.

Rotherham: Warrington, Tonge, Joseph, Fenton, Green, Law, Mills, Harrison, Warne (Cummins), Pope, Le Fondre (Ellison).
Subs (not used): Annerson, Nicholas, R. Taylor, J. Taylor, Liddell.

Rochdale: Arthur, Flynn, T. Kennedy, Stanton, Dawson, Buckley (Rundle), Jones, J. Kennedy, Thompson (Spencer), Dagnall, O'Grady.
Subs (not used): Edwards, Holness, Stevens, Wiseman, Shaw.

Booked: Stanton.

Attempts (on target): Rotherham 10 (7) Rochdale 10 (7)
Free kicks: Rotherham 12 Rochdale 20
Offside: Rotherham 5 Rochdale 2
Corners: Rotherham 6 Rochdale 2

Referee: G. Sutton